Crackdown on Bagar-Hukum
Belagavi
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda announced in the Legislative Council that strict criminal action will be taken against officials and land mafia involved in illegally granting Bagar Hukum land to encroachers. Responding to a question raised by MLC Ramesh Babu during Zero Hour, he said the government will not tolerate the misuse of government land. He noted that some officials were directly responsible for approving illegal land grants, which is a serious violation.
The minister revealed that around 98 individuals in Chikkanayakanahalli taluk were issued fake cultivation certificates in the names of farmers. FIRs have already been filed against those who used these forged documents to claim land ownership. As soon as the irregularities surfaced, the department formed an investigation team on November 13 and sent it to probe the case. He said such document manipulation would not have been possible without the involvement of record-keeping officials. Therefore, FIRs have been lodged against all officials who handled land records in the taluk since 2018.
The investigation team is now verifying signatures on the fake certificates to determine which ones are genuine and which are forged. Officials have sought a week’s time to complete the signature verification report. Once the findings are submitted, the government will initiate criminal proceedings and departmental disciplinary action against all those found guilty.
During the session, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also stated that the government has begun a phased process to fill 1,88,037 vacant posts across departments. Of the 2,84,881 total vacancies, 96,844 have already been filled, and clearance has been issued for recruitment to an additional 24,300 posts. The CM added that earlier delays caused by internal reservation issues have now been resolved.