Mohali, June 7 -- Nearly 68 bighas and 14 biswas of shamlat land (village common land), leased out to Universal Educational Society (UES), which runs the Universal Group of Institutions at Lalru, was allegedly mortgaged to raise loans in violation of rules, a probe by the district development and panchayat officer (DDPO), Mohali, has revealed. The DDPO has now forwarded the report to the Mohali senior superintendent of police, seeking action. The inquiry had been initiated after a communication from Punjab rural development and panchayat director Uma Shankar Gupta on March 11, 2026. According to the report, the said land had been leased out to UES for 33 years. A lease deed to this effect was executed in February 2009. It was later interpolated by adding a provision which permitted raising loans against panchayat land. This was in contravention of the Punjab government's original sanction letter. DDPO Parambir Kaur explained that the original clause permitted raising funds for construction activities on the leased land. "It never stated that loans could be obtained by mortgaging or creating a charge on the leased panchayat land itself," she said. The matter had surfaced after a village resident, Resham Singh, had approached the Punjab vigilance bureau, alleging irregularities in lease and subsequent financial transactions involving the panchayat land. Through representations and public statements, Singh had questioned how a common land of the village could be linked to private institutional borrowings. Documents examined by the panchayat department indicate that UES obtained a Rs.38-crore loan from Punjab National Bank (PNB) in 2017. The account was subsequently classified as a non-performing asset (NPA) on December 15, 2021. PNB approached the debt recovery tribunal (DRT), Chandigarh, on January 27, 2023, seeking recovery of its dues. One of the prayers in the proceedings sought permission to sell the mortgaged property to recover the outstanding amount. Documents filed before the tribunal in 2023 showed outstanding liabilities of around Rs.46 crore. The DDPO report pointed to a connivance between former Ballopur sarpanch Chhoti Devi and UES president Gurpreet Singh in manipulating the lease to facilitate creation of mortgage in panchayat land. Panchayat department officials also questioned the role of bank officials involved in the sanctioning of the loan, stating that due diligence would have revealed that leased panchayat land could not legally be mortgaged or treated as collateral. When contacted, UES president Gurpreet Singh denied any wrongdoing. He maintained that the institution had acted strictly in accordance with the documents and permissions available at the time. "We have not indulged in any illegal activity. Whatever was done was based on the provisions contained in the documents, and the loan process was undertaken accordingly," he said....