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In a suspected land scandal, Congress leader Dr Tushar Chaudhary has written a complaint to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel alleging former Surat Collector Ayush Oak to be involved in crores of land scam.

A 17 lakh sq m government land with survey no. 311-3 in Dumas, near Surat was reportedly transferred to a tenant farmer (ganotiya) named Krushnamukhlal Shroff. It is believed that the land was further going to be sold to a builder eventually.

As per the allegations, former collector Oak defrauded the government by arbitrarily entering the name of tenant farmer into the official records of government land 311/3 in Dumas of ₹2,000 crore which is against the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Land Act, 1948.

Moreover, the land was allegedly transferred in the name of the tenant farmer without appropriate documentation as per regulations.

As per the complaint, there is no record of any order by the mamlatdar or the agriculture committee establishing Krishnamukhlal as a tenant farmer. Yet, the land was transferred in his name, and the government land was illegally acquired. Collector Ayush Oak allegedly ordered the entry of the tenant farmer’s name two days before his transfer. 

In 2015, a petition heard in the Gujarat High Court revealed that the regional office report also confirmed that the land was government-owned and was illegally transferred to the tenant farmer’s name.

In 2005, the land was reportedly transferred to Rajendra Shah, Dharmendra Shah, and Sugamchand Shah. 

Chief Secretary Raj Kumar has ordered an in-depth investigation by the Revenue Department. The involvement of prominent BJP members in Surat in this scam is being speculated.

The complainant emphasised the urgent need to investigate Oak’s role and called for his immediate suspension due to his actions.

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