Chandigarh, Sept. 30 -- Widening the probe into the Rs.3.7-crore land compensation for a national highway project in Moga, the Punjab government has chargesheeted two tehsildars. The government action comes days after it issued a chargesheet against additional deputy commissioner (ADC) and 2014-batch PCS officer Charumita Shekhar in the matter. According to the chargesheet (seen by HT), financial commissioner, revenue (FCR), Anurag Verma has taken action against tehsildar Maninder Singh and naib tehsildar Gurdeep Singh for "lapses in demarcation, allowing partition of land and other irregularities in paper work", during their posting at Dharamkot. On the request of secretary (public works department) Ravi Bhagat, the FCR has also ordered a fresh demarcation of the disputed land under the supervision of Ferozepur DC and the Ludhiana district revenue officer amid growing suspicion that senior officials in Moga may be involved in the alleged irregularities. The controversy centres around land located along the Dharamkot-Shahkot stretch, which was originally acquired in 1963 by the PWD (B&R), Ferozepur, for road construction. Despite this land being in continuous use for public purposes for more than five decades, a change of land use (CLU) was granted for commercial purposes. The approval allowed the land to be re-designated for non-agricultural use, even though it had been part of an active road for over 50 years. The land, which became part of the National Highway-703 project, had previously been transferred to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). During a 2014 widening project under the National Highways Act, 1956, the land was "re-acquired". However, the 2019 compensation award for Rs.3.7 crore was based on a claim that the land had been newly acquired, even though the land had been in use since 1963. The compensation was granted without verifying the original acquisition records. The irregularities surfaced when the awardee approached the Punjab and Haryana high court, seeking release of compensation for the land. While responding to the court's notice, it was found that crucial records from 1963 were missing, raising doubts about the validity of the claims and the subsequent approval process. "While doing the partition of land as sought by applicant Jaswinder Singh, you didn't follow the rules and hid the fact that a national highway passes through the land. You have shown private persons as owner of that land," reads the chargesheet issued against the tehsildars. "Gurjinder Singh, DRO Ludhiana, is deputed to conduct the requisite demarcation. He shall conduct this exercise in the presence of nominees of chief director, vigilance bureau, secretary PWD, NHAI. The demarcation shall be done under the supervision of Ferozepur DC Deepshikha Sharma," read the FCR order. According to the people in know of the matter, the chargesheeted tehsildars were directly involved in the preparation and verification of these disputed records. With the Vigilance Bureau already probing the scam, more officials are likely to come under scrutiny. Officials suggest that the expanding scope of the inquiry points to a potential nexus involving multiple tiers of the district administration. PCS officer Charumita, on her part, has stated that she never ever granted the CLU. "The SDM has no role in issuing or approving CLUs. It was granted by GLADA," she said, adding that the award money has also 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 claimed....