Patna: The government on Saturday approved a three-member inquiry commission to probe irregularities in the management and distribution of around 6.49 lakh acres of land received under the Bhoodan Movement in Bihar.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar took the decision at a cabinet meeting at his secretariat. The commission will have a tenure of two years and will be based in Patna.

Brijesh Mehrotra, the principal secretary of cabinet secretariat, said: "A retired IAS officer will head the three-member commission as its chairman. The two other members will be retired officials of the Bihar Administrative Service (BAS). A serving BAS official will be the commission's member-secretary."

The government will nominate the commission members, while the revenue and land reforms department will appoint the member-secretary, said Mehrotra. The member-secretary will be an officer in the rank of joint secretary or above.

The constitution of the inquiry commission follows a Patna High Court order on a case filed by Jhulan Baitha and others (CWJC 4126/ 1991), alleging gross irregularities in distribution and management of land received under the Bhoodan Movement.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave had launched the movement, also known as Bhoodan Yagna, in which he sought land from big landowners for distribution among the landless masses. Bhave toured Bihar and his efforts saw donation of around 6.49 lakh acres. The Bihar government brought the Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1954, and formulated Bhoodan Yagna Rules, 1955, for proper management and distribution of land.

So far 2.57 lakh acres of Bhoodan land has been redistributed, 5,750 acres are to be given, and the rest 3.87 lakh acres has been declared unfit for distribution. Several complaints and cases were filed on ownership, mutation and other issues related to the land.

The inquiry commission will probe the condition of the donated land, its distribution, confirmation of distributed land, condition of undistributed land and other things and file a report before the high court.

Sources related to the Bhoodan Movement told The Telegraph that there have been instances of musclemen usurping Bhoodan land given to the poor family members and relatives of the land donors reclaiming the land and distribution of fertile Bhoodan land to people who not eligible for it among others.