A Gujarat court has sentenced former IAS officer and Kutch Collector Pradeep Sharma to five years of rigorous imprisonment in connection with a 2011 land scam case. The court found Sharma guilty of misusing his authority as Kutch district collector in 2004, causing financial losses to the state. The sentence was pronounced on April 19, 2025, by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhuj, J.V. Buddh, based on 52 documentary evidences and the testimonies of 18 witnesses. Sharma was also fined ₹10,000; failure to pay the fine will result in an additional six months of rigorous imprisonment. Three other officials were also sentenced in the case.
The case pertains to the allotment of land to Saw Pipes Pvt Ltd in 2004, when Sharma was serving as the Collector of Kutch. According to the prosecution, Sharma issued multiple orders to facilitate the land transfer, bypassing rules and exceeding his official powers. He was found guilty of violating government regulations by allotting 47,173 square meters of land in Samaghogha, Mundra to Sopipe As Ltd, exceeding his authority to allocate only up to 2 hectares. Investigations revealed that three separate land applications for the same company and purpose were approved in a single day, violating the rule requiring consolidated decision-making. Specifically, 20,538 square meters in survey number 326, exceeding the 20,000 square meter limit, were allocated. The allotment exceeded the legal limit of two hectares, as specified in a Gujarat Revenue Department resolution dated June 6, 2003, which authorised district collectors to allot up to two hectares of government land for industrial use. The court held that Sharma and his co-accused subverted official procedures to approve land deals at just ₹6 per square meter, far below market value.
The other convicted officials include the then Town Planner Natu Desai, Deputy Mamlatdar Narendra Prajapati, and Resident Deputy Collector Ajitsinh Zala. The CID Crime had registered a case against them under IPC sections 217, 409, and 120(B). Additionally, they were sentenced to three months of simple imprisonment under IPC section 217.
Pradeep Sharma's current five-year sentence will commence after he completes a previous five-year jail term in an ACB case. In addition to the jail term and fine for the land allocation scam, a special PMLA court sentenced Sharma to five years in prison for money laundering on December 6, 2025. The charges, brought by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2012, stem from allegations that Sharma, during his tenure as Kutch district collector, allocated land to a major corporate at prices significantly below market value. Besides the jail term, the court imposed a Rs 50,000 fine on him and ordered the confiscation of all his attached properties. The ED booked Sharma under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on three FIRs filed by the CID (crime) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for corruption. As Kutch district collector and chairman of the District Land Pricing Committee (DLPC) between May 2003 and June 2006, he allotted multiple land parcels at rates ranging from Rs 15 to Rs 18 per square metre, instead of the fixed govt rate of Rs 78 per square metre, thereby causing a financial loss of Rs 1.20 crore. Sharma was accused of channelling illegal gratification through his wife, Shyamal Sharma, who was made a 30% partner in a firm associated with the corporate group, without any initial capital investment.
Sharma, a chemistry graduate, joined the Gujarat Administrative Service in 1981 and was promoted to IAS in 1999. He has served as the Commissioner of Jamnagar and Bhavnagar Municipal Corporations and as the Collector of Rajkot and Kutch districts.
Meanwhile, Sharma's lawyer is likely to challenge the session court's order in high court.
