CHANDIGARH: Birender Singh, Haryana’s Planning Minister and prominent dissident, has decided to take up with the Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao, the case of acquisition of three acres of prime land in Bir village of Hissar district by Chief Minister’s younger son Kuldip through doctoring of revenue record.

The land belonged to Sher Singh Bijla who had opposed Bhajan Lal as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in Adam pur constituency in the last Assembly elections. Bijla not only was political opponent of the Chief Minister but also a relative of the Planning Minister. Birender Singh confirmed that Bijla was his relative “Bijla is brother of my first cousin’s husband,” Birender Singh said, and described the acquisition of land by the Chief Minister’s son as “calculated and planned harassment of my relatives.”

Bijla had bought the land from the attorney holder of Mehma Singh in 1987. Later, a dispute arose over the deal, On January 20, the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed “dispossession” of Bijla. His counsel was Randeep Singh Surjewala, son of Shamsher Singh Surjewala, party MP and another prominent dissident.

However, on July 30, when the stay was still in force and the matter pending before the high court, the land was transferred in Kuldip’s name by sanctioning three mutations in a single day. These mutations transferred the land from Bijla to Mehma Singh (who had already died), from Mehma Singh to his widow and legal heirs, and finally to Kuldip.

Incidentally, among those who signed as witnesses to the deal between Bijla and Mehma Singh’s attorney holder was Joginder Singh, former MLA, who is now a member of the Bhajan Lal ministry. Joginder Singh is currently involved in a case of alleged land grabbing in Kirana village.

Bijla’s land is just across a lane from a piece of land owned by the Chief Minister’s family. It is said that Kuldip was keen to acquire Bijla’s land in order to have a single, big chunk. Even though the ownership of the land now stands in Kuldip’s name, it is still in possession of Bijla.

After newspapers carried reports about Kuldip’s questionable acquisition, some persons visited Bijla and advised him to accept compensation for the crop standing on the land and hand over possession to the Chief Minister’s son, but he has refused to budge, it is learnt.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 2, 1992