CM squad nabs architect, scanner on Huda estate office in OC fraud

GURUGRAM: The Huda estate office is under scrutiny for irregularities in granting occupation certificates (OCs) to buildings on individual plots in residential sectors.
A Huda-empanelled architect was arrested by the CM’s Flying Squad and produced before a Gurgaon court on Wednesday.
Architect Sajjan Kumar, booked under sections of the Anti-corruption Act and forgery, was send to one day in police custody for further investigation in the case, while the Flying Squad sought details of OCs granted by Huda in the last three months.

The investigating agency has seized the architect’s phone to scan for WhatsApp chats and call details. The phone of the architect — a prominent liaison at the estate office 2 — was under surveillance for the past few months. Huda officials who were in constant touch with the architect, who is known for “getting work done”, are also under scanner. Some of them may be asked to join the investigation.
Huda estate officer 2 Vivek Kalia said they have been taking action against irregularities from time to time. “In this case, we’re cooperating with the investigating agency, supplying documents they have sought. The probe is in progress and if names of any of our officials come up, the department will take action against them,” said Kalia, adding this will act as a fresh deterrent for others, and discourage people from getting involved in forgery and other irregularities.
He said Huda had blacklisted four architects in October 2017 for submitting forged documents and photographs for getting OCs. Similarly, on February 15, four plot owners were issued showcause notices for using forged photographs with their application to get transfer permissions.
Submitting forged photographs for getting OCs from Huda has been in the news for some time. On February 4, TOI had carried a story “Government official submits false papers, gets occupation certificate in just 3 days”. Following media reports, Huda had cancelled the OC and issued a notice to the senior government officer.
According to sources, Sajjan Kumar had applied for OC of a house belonging to the concerned officer with forged photographs. His file was given the green signal by a Huda junior engineer, sub-divisional officer (SDO) and accounts officer on November 6. The file reached the Huda administrator’s office the next day, and got approved on November 10.