In what is being widely now termed amid the people in and around Sarai in Haridwar as Pushkar Singh Dhami's historic crackdown on corruption, civil servants, government employees, his justified action against administration, their corruption in illegally selling local governmental land at huge high price, suspended 12 including 2 IAS officers including Haridwar District Magistrate Karmendra Singh, a PCS officer, rest government employees.
What is the Haridwar Land Scam?
A piece of government land priced at Rs 15 crores was purchased by the Haridwar Municipal Corporation @ Rs 54 crores thereby clearly proving the whole sale and purchase of the government land as utter fraud, hoax, fleecing, cheating the very state exchequer. The latter straightaway lost Rs 54 Cr to say the least. Further, the land itself does not exist as it is a government land any way. Further, the government land sold to the Haridwar Municipal Corporation which again is a government body. In other words, how can a government-owned land be sold to the same government that too, with Rs 39 crore as profit which is utter fleecing the local administration in effect the state government in effect. The land itself paradoxically is non-existent.
No official government rules (prior advertisement, tender, sifting of applications, selection of right seller at the lowest price etc) were followed while the land was sold. In fact, the very land-valuation lacked transparency unlike official rules that forbid all purchases using state exchequer money without a formal tender having lowest quotation in this case.
Mention be made here that the very valuation of the said land was "hardly" done so that the official price be sky high that would facilitate all accused mentioned get a high commission from the deal.
Key Findings and Allegations
Initial findings of the vigilance inquiry and internal government assessments reveal:
- No formal administrative requirement was established for the purchase.
- Due diligence was reportedly skipped.
- The valuation process lacked transparency.
- The deal bypassed key procurement rules.
- The purchase may have benefited select private individuals at public expense.
- The Vigilance Department has now been formally directed to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the scam.
Top Bureaucrats Under Suspension
The Dhami government, known for its assertive governance style, took the unprecedented step of suspending senior bureaucrats, some with long-standing records in administrative service:
- Karmendra Singh (IAS) – District Magistrate of Haridwar
- Varun Chaudhary (IAS) – Former Municipal Commissioner of Haridwar
- Ajayveer Singh (PCS) – Sub-Divisional Magistrate
These suspensions were made after departmental inquiries indicated procedural lapses and possible involvement in sanctioning the overpriced land purchase.
Other Officials Suspended
In addition to the top officers, several other officials have been suspended for their roles in enabling or failing to prevent the transaction:
- Nikita Bisht – Senior Finance Officer
- Rajesh Kumar – Law Officer
- Kamaldas – Tehsil Administrative Officer
- Vikki – Senior Personal Assistant
- Ravindra Kumar Dayal – Assistant Municipal Commissioner
- Anand Singh Mishrawan – Executive Engineer
- Lakshmikant Bhatt – Tax & Revenue Superintendent
- Dinesh Chandra Kandpal – Junior Engineer
Moreover, Vedwal, the property clerk responsible for managing property records, had his service extension revoked. Disciplinary proceedings have also been ordered against him.