Bribery charge: Patiala tehsildar suspended for delaying registration of sale deed

A sale deed, scheduled for registration on December 5, was deliberately delayed by the registrar office by 17 days without any valid justification, mentions inquiry report

The Punjab government on Monday suspended Patiala tehsildar-cum-sub registrar after the departmental inquiry established a nexus between the said officer, a private deed writer and a stamp vendor. The case involved allegations of illegal gratification and deliberate delay in the registration of a sale deed.

The registration was carried out on December 22, immediately after an ‘additional payment’ of ₹50,000 was made to a private typist linked with the sub-registrar office, mentions complaint.

Additional chief secretary-cum-financial commissioner (revenue) Anurag Verma issued the suspension orders of the accused tehsildar identified as Karandeep Singh Bhullar, and also sent the case to the vigilance bureau for criminal investigation into the matter.

The inquiry was initiated following a complaint by a Patiala resident, who alleged that the accused demanded and accepted a bribe for registration of a property sale deed in Neelima Vihar in Chaura village of Patiala. The inquiry report, a copy of which is with HT, substantiated the allegations and pointed to a systematic misuse of official machinery to harass the complainant.

According to the report, the sale deed, scheduled for registration on December 5, was deliberately delayed by 17 days without any valid justification. The registration was carried out on December 22, immediately after an ‘additional payment’ of ₹50,000 was made to a private typist linked with the sub-registrar office.

The report further revealed that a false objection regarding stamp paper rectification was fabricated to justify the delay.

A post-dated email seeking rectification was sent by the stamp vendor, only to be abruptly withdrawn on the very day the alleged bribe was paid. Notably, the registration was completed using the same stamp paper, establishing that no genuine objection had existed, the report said.

Recommending action, the report stated: “It is recommended that appropriate departmental action as per law may be taken against the concerned sub-registrar, the deed writer/private typist, and stamp vendor. Besides, a special audit of registrations handled by the above officials should be conducted to detect similar instances.”

“We have a zero tolerance policy towards corruption. Apart from suspending the Tehsildar, we have sent the case to the vigilance bureau. We have directed all the deputy commissioners to conduct random checking of records and call people who could not register their property. Soon, we will make changes in the software that the registrar has to mention the reason for not registering the property before moving on to the next application,” Verma said.