DVAC case against Deputy Tahsildar for demanding bribe

The DVAC action was based on a complaint from one J Justin, a resident of Kottivakkam, who was trying to change patta of his sister’s property in Tiruvanmiyur to a digital patta.

Justin’s sister Dhanam Wilson (68), a widow, was readying the documents for partitioning the property between her children when she was told that she must change the manual patta to an online one before registering the property in the name of her children.

Justin tried to change the status of patta to digital from the second week of November by paying the prescribed fee. The Tiruvanmiyur surveyor had told Justin that the online patta would be ready within a week. But even after many days, the transfer of patta to online from manual was not done.

So Justin contacted the surveyor again, and was advised to talk to the Velachery Deputy Tahsildar Gomathy. He also gave her number to Justin. After talking to Gomathy, Justin went to her office on December 31 to meet the official. That was when she allegedly asked him to pay Rs 9,000 to cover certain formalities. When he asked her for details, the official told him that he would have to pay Rs 4,200 for a bill.

When Justin became aware that the Deputy Tahsildar was asking for illegal gratification, he informed about it to his sister, who categorically refused to pay any bribe. Following this, Justin, a lawyer, lodged a complaint with the DVAC asking the agency to take appropriate action against the Deputy Tahsildar Gomathy.