By: Express News ServiceLudhiana | November 8, 2025 12:10 AM IST 3 min readThe award, amounting to Rs 3.63 crore, was approved for the Dharamkot-Shahkot stretch of the New National Highway (NH)-703The Punjab government has suspended Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Moga, Charumita Shekhar, just over a month after the 2014-batch Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officer was charge-sheeted by the Department of Personnel and a Vigilance Bureau (VB) probe launched against her following allegations of irregularities in a land acquisition case worth Rs 3.63 crore linked to a national highway project in the district.According to an official order issued by the Department of Personnel late on Thursday, Charumita has been placed under suspension under Rule 4(1)(a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970. The order, issued on the directions of Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria and vetted by chief secretary KAP Sinha, further adds that during suspension Charumita’s headquarters will remain in Chandigarh, and she will receive a subsistence allowance.A senior official from Moga district administration said a piece of land was acquired in 1963 for a road construction but in 2021-22, Charumita, as then sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Dharamkot, allegedly again issued its calculation for consent based award and sent it to the XEN PWD (NH) without checking previous records. The award, amounting to Rs 3.63 crore, was approved for the Dharamkot-Shahkot stretch of the New National Highway (NH)-703.“In 1963, the land was reportedly acquired by Land Acquisition Collector (LAC), Jalandhar. But now the payment register and other records of 1963 are missing. An FIR for the same has been registered in Ferozepur,” said a senior official from Moga.Dharamkot was earlier a part of Zira in Ferozepur and merged into Moga only after the latter was carved out as a separate district.The irregularities came to light when the awardee, whose land measuring around 2 kanals was acquired, approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking compensation even as the Punjab government and the NHAI said that the land was already acquired in 1963. The matter is now sub-judice with several departments including the NHAI, the Punjab PWD, Vigilance etc presenting their sides.Denying any wrongdoings, Charumita had earlier said that the case in the High Court is for seeking the compensation which has been sent by the NHAI into the account of SDM without checking if proper approval to the award was granted by Ministry of Road, Transport and Highway (MoRTH) via the PWD. “The due process was to be followed by the XEN PWD by sending the award for approval to MoRTH, not the SDM. The bottom line is that the award never got approved by XEN PWD from MoRTH, the amount was deposited by the NHAI without checking the approval and the compensation amount is safe in the SDM account and has not been granted. The money is lying intact in SDM account and has not been disbursed to anyone,” she had told The Indian Express.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Moga