In a statement, Bhatia pointed out that when the talathi leaders called on the minister on January 16, the minister made it clear that he wanted guilty talathis - the custodian of land records at the village-level - to be given exemplary punishment because of their having taken the poor and ignorant farmers for a ride.

When the minister himself had given the direction, how could Kokate or the spokesman of the sanghatana allege while speaking to the press on February 2 that the drive has been taken up by him, as the Divisional Commissioner merely to hog limelight and publicity, Bhatia asked.

So far, defaulting talathis were let off with only light penalty. He, however, directed the collectors and the sub-divisonal officers to give stringent punishment in all cases of default.

Light penalty and stringent punishment have been clearly spelt down in government records. Light penalty includes denial of promotions and increments, recovery of the loss incurred by the government by a wilful default by talathis from their pays or reducing the salary.

Stringent punishments covers compulsory retirement or dismissal from service. Kokate wants light penalty for serious defaults, whereas Bhatia has asked for stringent punishment.

Bhatia said the number of the cases of defaults collected from the five districts was slashed by nearly one-third by him in his rigorous review and brought to 107.