Gujarat government suspends IAS officer for ‘negligence’ in land issue

The Gujarat government on Monday suspended IAS officer Aayush Oak, who was serving as Valsad district tax collector, for negligence in a property matter, an official said.

“The land with survey number 311-3 in Dumas valued at approximately ₹2,000 crore was reportedly transferred by Oak to a tenant named Krishnamukhlal Shroff without proper documentation and in violation of rules,” a senior government official told HT on condition of anonymity.

According to the authorities, this move was intended to facilitate the subsequent sale of the land to a real estate developer through the non-agricultural (NA) procedure.

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According to the revenue department’s investigation, there is no record of any order from the Mamlatdar or the Agriculture Board to make Shroff a tenant farmer, he added. Yet, the land was transferred in his name and the government land was acquired illegally.

Tax collector Oak allegedly ordered the registration of the tenant’s name two days before his transfer, the official said.

The General Administration Department’s (GAD) suspension order said Oak’s actions had created “a situation of huge financial loss” to the state exchequer while handling matters related to revenue land between June 23, 2021, and February 1, 2024, when he was posted as the Collector of Surat.

During the suspension, Oak will not be allowed to leave the headquarters (Patan district) without prior permission of the Gujarat Deputy Chief Secretary (Personnel), GAD, the government order said.

In 2015, a petition heard before the Gujarat High Court revealed that the district council’s report also confirmed that the land was owned by the government and had been illegally transferred to the tenant farmer’s name.

This was a blatant violation of the Gujarat Tenancy Act, 1948.

Furthermore, reports suggest that the same land was transferred to Rajendra Shah, Dharmendra Shah and Sugamchand Shah in 2005.

Congress MP Tushar Chaudhary wrote to Gujarat State Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on May 20 this year expressing concern over the alleged landfall.