Chandigarh, Jan 24 (PTI) The Haryana State Information Commission has recommended that the town and country planning and the forest departments conduct a survey of the Aravalli area, specifically the 60 farmhouses built allegedly without requisite permission, and furnish complete details of all illegal constructions there.

In reference to non-disclosure of names of owners of these 60 farmhouses by the authorities concerned, the commission also observed that there was a "deliberate attempt to conceal facts".

Senior Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka had approached the commission after he was denied information on the owners of these 60 farmhouses which have come up in the Faridabad and the Gurgaon areas of the state.

In its order dated January 15, the commission said it recommends the principal secretaries of the two departments "to conduct a survey of the Aravalli area -- specifically the 60 farmhouses and furnish complete details of all illegal constructions in the area, so that the public can access the facts about the encroachers of the Aravali land".

The commission also recommended the managing director of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam to furnish details of the power connections provided in the area.

The basis of the RTI application filed by the appellant, Khemka, in February last year, was a minister's reply in the state assembly to a question of MLA Seema Trikha, it observed.

The commission, in its order, mentioned that it finds that Forest Minister Kanwar Pal has unequivocally stated in the assembly that 50 farmhouses have been built in the Faridabad area and 10 in Gurgaon.

Further, in response to MLA Trikha's question "whether there was any proposal under consideration of the government to regularise or approve the said farmhouses", the answer of the forest minister was in the negative, the order mentioned.

"In summary, the minister's reply clarifies the existence of 60 farmhouses in Faridabad and Gurgaon which have been built without any requisite permission. In essence, this points to encroachment by the owners of these farmhouses," it said.

The response of the department concerned that there is no record of such individuals is not satisfactory as it is the duty of the DTP (Enforcement) to monitor any attempts of illegal construction in its designated area, the commission said.

It observed that Minister Pal's reply in the assembly clearly acknowledges that there are 60 "illegal" farmhouses in the Aravalli region, however the public authority "blatantly denies any knowledge of these encroachments, wilfully contradicting the minister's reply in the Vidhan Sabha (state assembly)".

"Even after the reply given in the Vidhan Sabha, the DTP (E), Faridabad and Gurgaon, has failed to check the ownership of these illegally constructed farmhouses," it said.

The commission also said that "ignoring this violation/transgression seems to be by design rather than neglect, considering that electricity connections have already been provided to the owners of these illegal farmhouses".

The commission "frowns upon this shameless disregard for accountability and the deliberate attempt to keep concealing facts", said the order.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)