LUDHIANA, Nov 12: In a significant step towards ensuring transparency in property registrations, the Ludhiana Commissionerate, Khanna, and Ludhiana Rural police have registered 10 First Information Reports (FIRs) in a single day regarding stamp duty discrepancies involving crores of rupees.
The cases were registered following detailed inquiries conducted by Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) across the Ludhiana revenue district into 978 undervalued sale deeds (wasikas) registered between 2013 and 2016, which came under scrutiny during routine audits.
Around 2,000 individuals, including buyers and sellers, have been booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 177 (furnishing false information), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, alongside Section 82 of the Registration Act. According to the FIRs, the parties involved allegedly acted in connivance with certain revenue officials, resulting in substantial stamp duty losses to the state exchequer.
The administrative and police action follows a petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by Subhash Kundra Katty, president of the Ludhiana-based Judge Advocate Peedit Organisation (JAPO), who has been pursuing the matter for several years.
Sharing the revenue office-wise details of the scrutinized documents, Katty stated, “A total of 978 undervalued sale deeds registered between 2013 and 2016 were identified during the verification process across various sub-registrar offices in the district.”
As per the data shared by the petitioner, the highest number of undervalued deeds were recorded in Samrala with 351 cases, followed by Machhiwara Sahib with 237, and Jagraon with 103. In the city limits, Ludhiana Central reported 82 cases, Ludhiana West 65, and Ludhiana East 36. Meanwhile, Sidhwan Bet recorded 33 cases, Raikot 31, Payal 25, and Sahnewal 15.
