KASUR: Revenue officials of Kasur tehsil observed a strike on Monday, locked the rooms of the tehsil office and held a sit-in against the decision of the district administration to declare an embezzled amount worth Rs25.6 million as land revenue.

They said the deputy commissioner (DC) got issued a fake letter that patwaris had defaulted on revenue collection from 2008 to 2018.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) arrested six people several months ago for embezzling public money.

According to the first information report, Chunian Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) officials embezzled Rs25.6 million by using fake receipts of revenue collection on behalf of the Chunian TMA.

According to a source, after a complaint, the ACE held an inquiry regarding embezzlement in the TMA in 2014-15. During investigation, it emerged TMA officials collected Rs25.6 million from the registry branch on fake receipts.

According to Mirza Muhammad Zahid, president of the Anjuman Patwarian and Qanoongo of Kasur, patwaris turned themselves into for an inquiry in the case where no revenue official was found guilty.

He also said TMA officials were found guilty of embezzlement and had been behind bars for months. He said that on Monday, the Lahore High Court also ordered the deputy commissioner to present himself before the court in the related case.

He alleged that Deputy Commissioner Azhar Hayat, instead of holding an inquiry, got a letter written on Oct 27, 2019 from the additional district collector revenue (ADCR) in back date (August 2, 2019) declaring patwaris from 2008 to 2018 defaulters.

He alleged that Rs25.6 million was embezzled by TMA officials.

The Anjuman Patwarian and Qanoongo demanded cancellation of the letter and vowed to continue their protest till their demands were fulfilled.

ADCR Abid Hussain Bhatti said that no letter had been issued in back dates.

He said that Patwaris had been asked to collect the revenue and added that revenue collection was a normal phenomenon.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2019