Minister accused of fraud

MUMBAI, July 11: A writ petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court alleging fraud against Revenue Minister Narayan Rane in the transfe...

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MUMBAI, July 11: A writ petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court alleging fraud against Revenue Minister Narayan Rane in the transfer of 150 acres of land in Nashik city in violation of a Supreme Court order on such properties.

The petition, filed last week, points out that Rane passed an order reverting the land to its original owners though it was reserved for development of the Maharashtra Engineering Research Institute (MERI).

The land was acquired in 1959 for MERI, which functions under the Irrigation Department of the state government. The institute is meant to evolve appropriate designs of dams and to erect sizeable models from time to time so as to arrive at definite specifications.

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The land was acquired by the Nashik collector in 1959, under the Land Acquisition Act and MERI started development in 1963. However, a large part of the land remained unutilised.

The petition, filed by Gajanan Damodar Shelar, alleges that as Nashik developed from a council to a corporation area, buildersbegan to eye the land, which by then had become the heart of the expanding city.

The original owners of the land, who were allegedly working for the builders, applied to the collector of Nashik to revert the unused portion to them. The collector rejected their plea.

They then approached Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, who by his order dated October 23, 1997, allowed about 59 hectare (or approximately 150 acres) to be reverted to the original owners in breach of a Supreme Court order (in another case) and of the Land Acquisition Act. The apex court had decreed that if an acquired plot remains unutilised, it must be disposed of by public auction.

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Under the Land Acqusition Act, the appellate authority (after the collector) is the appropriate court, and not the minister, the petitioner claims.

Besides, the impugned order of the minister lays down a new rule – that an organisation must utilise land within three years and if it fails to do so, the land will be returned to its erstwhile owners.

This willhave an undesirable effect on other public bodies like the railways and airport authorities which have acquired land but not put it to use till date, the petitioner argues. Further, the Irrigation Department itself had told the minister that the land was essential for the development of MERI.

In fact, Rane went ahead and referred to a government resolution of 1973, which he claimed was binding. He therefore overrode the Supreme Court judgment of 1997, the petitioner alleges.

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When the matter came up for hearing before a division bench of the Bombay High Court on Monday, P Janardanan, advocate for the petitioner argued in the absence of advocates for the respondents. The bench ordered that the status quo be maintained.