UT Adviser Dharam Pal (Express file photo by Kamleshwar Singh)In efforts to keep a check on the pendency of cases, UT Adviser Dharam Pal has said that a third assistant estate officer might be appointed sometime this month.
Chandigarh Adviser Dharam Pal while speaking to The Indian Express said that he is “mulling to having a third assistant estate officer now”. “This is just being done to ensure that there is proper monitoring of files here,” he said.
Till just two months ago, the Chandigarh estate office only had one assistant estate officer, Harjeet Sandhu, looking after the three portfolios — residential, commercial and other buildings.
Last month, a second officer, Sourabh Arora, was appointed and given charge of ‘other buildings’ while Sandhu continued to manage residential and commercial cases.
Sources said that Sandhu who has come on deputation from Punjab has his term ending in October’s first half and that he has already been here in Chandigarh for quite some time now.
Sources also said that the top brass of the administration was not satisfied with the estate office’s functioning even after the process of filing complaints was digitised. Pal is making regular checks to ensure that officials are not sitting on files, they said.
Pal also convened a meeting Monday to check the pendency of cases at the UT estate office. “We are regularly convening meetings to check the pendency of the cases at the estate office. Even today one was held. Only two-three cases were pending due to certain technicalities involved and the rest all had been disposed of
well within time,” Dharam Pal had said.
Only last month, the estate officer, Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh suspended five officials of the Chandigarh estate office on grounds of failing “to discharge their official responsibilities”. These officials had not only failed to clear long-pending applications but also failed to recover pending dues of properties.
The Secretary Estate had reviewed the functioning of the branches of the estate office in detail, especially with regard to the recovery of pending dues of leasehold/rented properties, disposal of long-pending applications, and possession of resumed properties and vacant plots.