Gandhinagar Land Scandal: Unveiling the Dark Secrets Beneath the Surface

The recent happenings within the premises of Sachivalaya in Gandhinagar can be comparable to a duck maintaining its composure on the surface, but frantically paddling below the water’s surface. Former IAS officer SK Langa, may at first appear to be simply a retired individual on the outside. Mr. Langa is facing police charges after supposedly authorising the sale of agricultural land to parties who were not qualified, as well as converting land into non-agricultural status without official consent from the government.

Langa allegedly mishandled about 5,904 files, including granting permission for a business project to be built on a cattle pond, while serving as the collector of Gandhinagar between April 2018 and September 2019. It is claimed that he authorized farmer certificates for the acquisition of farmland without adequate confirmation and permitted the conversion of farmland for non-agricultural intents.

Furthermore, SK Langa is being charged with causing a depletion of funds to the state by classifying “new tenure land” as “old tenure land. “ The FIR lodged in Gandhinagar alleges that SK Langa demonstrated partiality in the assignment of land and did not abide by governmental protocol. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has been given the responsibility by the state government to look into Langa’s supposed disproportionate assets and his possession of government land in Pethapur village, Gandhinagar.

The majority of the land plots in question are situated within or near the Kalol area of Gandhinagar district. The opposition parties, namely Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), are calling for an investigation into what they believe to be a land scam worth Rs 10,000 crore. They are urging the High Court to monitor the investigation.

Political circles had been experiencing internal conflicts for several months before the complaint was submitted. The police report filed in May created a commotion in both political and real estate arenas across Gujarat, garnering substantial coverage from the regional press. Not long after, a newspaper in Gujarat released an unsigned letter allegedly authored by Langa, in which former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, former Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, and former Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel were implicated. Langa argued that he was simply adhering to the directives given to him. The BJP made changes to its leadership in September 2021 by replacing Rupani and his entire cabinet with a new cabinet headed by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.

Rupani, despite the lack of verification on the news report, conducted a press conference to refute any accusations concerning his association with illegal activities by Langa. In October 2020, he proclaimed that he had launched an investigation on the issue, leading to the Bhupendra Patel administration initiating legal proceedings against Langa and two other department officials.

The government has not provided an official statement in response to the controversy surrounding Rupani and other ministers, however, opposition parties have claimed that the government is attempting to shield them. Amit Chavda, who leads the Congress party in the Gujarat assembly, called for a court-supervised inquiry into the scandal. He asserted that important decisions in the revenue department could not have been taken by lower-level collectorate officials without the awareness of higher-level officials and ministers. Chavda claimed that the police investigation was a diversion tactic and the collectorate officers implicated in the FIR were being used as scapegoats in a major political plot. If Rupani and his team were not involved, why hadn’t the Bhupendra Patel administration restored the agricultural status of the incorrectly transferred land pieces

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