By IANS,
Raipur : A letter sent to district collectors asking them to cancel colonisers’ land that belonged to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes has been found to be forged.
District collectors in the state recently received the letter purportedly sent by state Chief Secretary Shivraj Singh ordering them to cancel registration of land purchased by builders, colonisers, firms, societies and individuals during the past eight decades from the state’s indigenous Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class communities.
The fake order also put a ban on sale of land owned by members of these communities to firms, societies, builders and colonisers.
The order surprised collectors. The government late Saturday issued an official statement saying: “There is no such letter issued by the chief secretary and the letter received by collectors is a totally forged one. It also carried a forged signature of the chief secretary.”
The chief secretary’s office sent a letter to district collectors and superintendents of police of all the 18 districts confirming: “The land sale ban related letter was a complete forgery and advised them to consult with the chief secretary’s office in case they receive any such suspicious or forged letters in future.”
Stunned by the episode, the state government has handed over the issue to director general of police Vishwa Ranjan to probe the matter.
The forged letter directed that outsiders can’t purchase land of indigenous Chhattisgarh people and even registration of those lands sold to builders, firms and societies and others since as early as 1929-30 would be cancelled.