The former Finance Minister, Namgay Dorji, accused of a land encroachment case in Taba by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) says the National Land Commission (NLC) is culpable for the entire issue. He alleges that the NLC wrongfully assigned his land the plot number of the state land located right next to his land which caused the entire confusion.
According to the former minister, of the 20-decimal wetland, the seven-decimal land in question was transferred to his sister Leki Wangmo in 1992 in accordance with a court order. In 1993, her seven-decimal land was allotted a new Thram 711 and plot number 164. He said it is his sister’s land which was later given to him, and not a ‘supposed to be land’ as alleged by the ACC.
The ACC in its findings stated that there were no documents to show the transactions actually took place. The Commission also said it is still not clear how plot number 164 which is actually a state land is registered in Leki Wangmo’s name. He added he could not gather documents and evidence in the beginning. But later he has submitted the documents to the ACC. However, he said there was no response from the commission.
Meanwhile, the ACC said that they did receive the documents but that does not mean that there is no land encroachment.
The former minister said he has also submitted relevant documents like the court order where the seven-decimal land was divided from plot number 166. Other documents such as the land measurement form with plot number 164 written on it and signed by land commission official and KAPPA forms (official documents of NLC) of Leki Wangmo with plot number 164 were also submitted to the commission.
Later, because of the lapses of land commission, the New Sathram Compilation (NSC) in 2001, conducted the survey on plot 164. The former minister claimed neither his sister nor himself was present during the survey because of which they didn’t notice the issue.
BBS has reached out to the land commission for comments.
Regarding the no-objection certificate, he said it was obtained since the survey team had demanded the document to give them ownership of the excess land under plot 164. He further claimed that had he known of the confusion, he would have asked for the mistake to be corrected since his original land is much better than the state land.
He also alleged that the location of his land has been shifted further.
Kinley Dem/ Tshering Zam
ACC and OAG will again discuss the former finance minister’s alleged encroachment of state land
