Chandigarh, Nov. 8 -- Moga additional deputy commissioner (ADC), Charumita Shekhar, a 2014-batch Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officer, has been placed under suspension for her role in a controversial land acquisition worth Rs.4 crore in the district. Shekhar, who was also the municipal commissioner, had been chargesheeted for allegedly consenting to the land acquisition award worth Rs.4 crore in Moga district. HT was the first to report and point to 'irregularities' in the land acquisition. Apart from Shekhar, two tehsildars involved in preparing and verifying the records have been chargesheeted. Taking cognisance of the Punjab and Haryana high court's stern observations over contradictory reports in the land acquisition for a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) project, Punjab chief secretary KAP Sinha ordered the PCS officer's suspension on Thursday evening. The action came after a three-member committee, comprising two IAS officers, Hargunjit Kaur, additional secretary (PWD), Manvesh Sidhu, secretary revenue, and IPS officer, Rajpal Singh, who probed the matter, found glaring ambiguities in the award and said that the NHAI award was not genuine as the land in question was already acquired in the year 1963. They have used Google images to prove that the land has been used as an NHAI road since 2014. Besides suspension, the revenue department has also written to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau to register an FIR and start a probe against the officials, including Shekhar, for preparing this alleged 'consented award'. The court had earlier indicated its inclination to hand over the probe to an independent investigating agency in view of discrepancies in the inquiry reports. The case pertains to alleged irregularities in land demarcation and compensation under the NHAI project. The financial commissioner (revenue) had earlier ordered that a fresh demarcation be carried out in the presence of nominees from the chief director, vigilance bureau; PWD secretary and NHAI, under the supervision of Ferozepur deputy commissioner Deepshikha Sharma. Their report was different from the earlier reports. The report by the three-member committee has also indicted several other officials. The committee report summarises, "A report was sought from the concerned patwari, Jagdev Singh (now deceased), who submitted that the land of the applicant had been acquired but compensation had not been paid. This report was forwarded to the then sub-divisional magistrate-cum-land acquisition collector, Dharamkot, through the then CRO, Maninder Singh." "The public works department (PWD) was apprised of the contents of the report, and certain queries raised by the PWD were also addressed." "Thereafter, the then executive engineer, PWD (B&R), VK Kapoor (now retired), requested vide letter No. 1471, dated 01.09.2022, the then sub-divisional magistrate, Dharamkot, to prepare a consent award. Consequently, the alleged consent award was prepared and forwarded to the executive engineer, PWD (B&R)," the report added. Charumita was the SDM when this award was prepared. The revenue department, in a letter to VB, has asked for an FIR against all the accused named in the report. "You are requested to register an FIR in this case. The FIR may be registered against the officials mentioned in the paragraph above. Further, during the investigation role of other persons may also be investigated, and they may be nominated/arrayed as accused persons in the FIR as per the investigation", reads the revenue department letter to the chief director, vigilance bureau. The Punjab government has also apprised the Punjab and Haryana high court of the developments in the case. Shekhar had earlier denied any role in granting the change of land use (CLU). "The sub-divisional magistrate has no role in issuing or approving CLUs. The CLU was granted by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA)," she had said, adding that the award money has not been released. "The award was never approved by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), as required. The NHAI deposited the compensation amount, which remains untouched in the SDM's account," she had claimed. Besides Ludhiana, GLADA also has the charge of land development in Moga. The case came to light when an awardee approached the high court for the release of compensation, while the Punjab government and the NHAI said that it was wrongly claimed as land was already acquired in 1963. Meanwhile, officials in the VB said that it would take them two to three days to register an FIR....