Patna: The Bihar government has decided to act strongly against the growing influence of the land mafia in Bihar. The administration has made it clear that if anyone is found using fake land papers to occupy property, it will be treated as a serious criminal case. Officials say this step will help control the problem of illegal land occupation, which has been troubling people across many districts. Complaints have been coming in that powerful groups often try to grab land by showing false documents or by using force.
Deepak Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue and Land Reforms Department, has written a letter to top officers including Divisional Commissioners, police chiefs and district officials. In his letter, he has said that strict action must be taken whenever fake papers are found. Crimes such as using false documents, removing others from their land by force, or occupying land illegally will now be acted upon under the Indian Justice Code and the Indian Civil Security Code. The department is also working to update and digitise land records so that people can easily access them and disputes can be resolved more quickly.
To ensure better coordination, meetings will now be held every Saturday in zonal offices, where zonal officers and local police station in-charges will come together to discuss land disputes. The government has noticed that in many cases, land mafias deliberately file title suits in civil courts. This is done so that revenue officials are not able to make any decision, and the case gets delayed for years. Because of this, even the Saturday meetings often fail to resolve such disputes. The new order stresses that in cases where there is doubt about the authenticity of documents, the police must carry out a proper investigation and take legal action without delay.
According to officials, the land mafia has been working in an organised way in several districts. Both formal and informal complaints keep reaching the district administration and the police. Many times, it has been seen that strong groups take possession of land by showing fake papers and by intimidating the rightful owners. The government hopes that by treating fake land papers as a criminal offence, such illegal practices will stop. This step is expected to give relief to ordinary landowners and reduce the number of disputes across Bihar.
