In a major development, Vigilance Bureau (VB) has filed a case against suspended Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Moga, Charumita (PCS). Charumita was suspended by Punjab Government on November 6 over alleged irregularities in a Rs 3.7-crore land compensation transaction.
As per reports, Vigilance Burea has registered a case against Charumita under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The action comes after a Vigilance Bureau inquiry into the acquisition of land for National Highway-703, which connects Dharamkot to Bahadurwala in Moga district. Investigators found that a compensation amount of about Rs 3.7 crore was released for a piece of land that had already been acquired by the government several decades earlier.
Officials said the land in question had originally been acquired by the Public Works Department (Buildings and Roads) in 1963 for the construction of a state highway in Ferozepur district. The land continued to remain in government use and was later transferred to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Despite that, compensation was once again sanctioned in 2019, allegedly without verifying the earlier records.
The matter came to light when a farmer approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking enhanced compensation. The court-ordered inquiry revealed that crucial land acquisition documents from 1963 were missing, and the demarcation reports prepared between 2021 and 2025 contained contradictory details.
The Principal Secretary, PWD, in his report, also flagged serious lapses in the handling of land records. The report mentioned that the land had been part of government holdings since 1963, yet compensation was disbursed as if it were privately owned. It further observed that the valuation used to determine the award amount was “disproportionately high” compared to the market value.
The findings were forwarded to the Vigilance Bureau, which later submitted a detailed report questioning the role of the then SDM, Charumita, who had overseen the compensation process. The Bureau has now sought further verification of the demarcation and payment trail with the assistance of officials from the PWD, NHAI, and the Revenue Department.
