Collector suspended

The state government has suspended IAS officer Ayush Oak, Collector of Valsad, in connection with a property scam in Surat that caused a financial loss of crores of dollars to the state exchequer. A notification issued by the General Administration Department on Monday confirmed his immediate suspension.

According to official sources, the then tax collector had reported the land as state property, but Oak allegedly ignored this report and included the names of the tenants in the records. It is also alleged that some political leaders assisted Oak in the fraud. The matter was referred to the Prime Minister’s Office, which directed the state to set up a committee to investigate the incident.

Review and suspension
The documents signed by Oak were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for review. Based on the FSL reports, the government decided to suspend him. Oak was transferred in February this year and had signed the documents the day before his transfer.

5,000 crore rupees land affected
The case revolves around a huge 52-acre plot of land near the airport in Surat’s Dumas area. This government-owned land, worth over Rs 5,000 crore, had 22 fraudulent names entered in the tax records during Oak’s tenure as Surat’s tax collector. Oak allegedly signed these entries only a day before his transfer. Of the 22 names, only three belong to Surat while the rest are from Mumbai.

Government investigation
Following the allegations, the government formed a high-level committee to investigate the incident. The committee held several hearings, the latest of which took place last week after a previously imposed stay was lifted. The fraudulent landowners

had sought a stay to present their case. They claimed that the land belonged to them before Independence and denied any wrongdoing. They even placed advertisements in newspapers to assert their claims of rightful ownership. In 1976, the name of the late Krishnamukhlal Shroff was entered in the tax records for the land. In 2005, the land was listed under the builders Rajendra Shah, Dharmendra Shah and Sugamchand Shah. Sugamchand, Pramodchandra Shroff (son of Krishnamukhlal) and a certain Kiranben Chauhan are deceased, but the names of their heirs remain in the tax records.
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AS Jha, additional collector of Valsad, will hold the charge of the Valsad collectorate until further orders, the state government said in a statement.

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