Saturday, Apr 20, 2024 | Last Update : 10:00 AM IST
Gujarat CM daughter did no wrong, HC is told
The Gujarat government, in an affidavit filed before the high court here on Wednesday, rejected allegations of wrongdoing in sale of land to a private company reportedly linked to chief minister Anand
The Gujarat government, in an affidavit filed before the high court here on Wednesday, rejected allegations of wrongdoing in sale of land to a private company reportedly linked to chief minister Anandiben Patel’s daughter Anar, saying it was the petitioner’s “figment of imagination”.
The affidavit, filed by the joint secretary in the revenue department Bharat Trivedi, said the decision taken by the state government is bonafide and in tune with the policies of the state government for promoting the tourism industry of the state.
The affidavit was filed by the Gujarat government before a division bench of chief justice R. Subhash Reddy and justice Anant Dave in response to a PIL by NGO RTI Activists Sangathan through its head Razak Baloch. The affidavit said the allotment of 99 hectare land was done by “strictly adhering to the prevailing policies of the various departments of the state government. It is a figment of imagination of the petitioner that the officers of the respondent departments have perpetrated fraud in the allotment of land”.
The petitioner sought two weeks to file a rejoinder to the affidavit, which was granted by the court. The PIL demanded a probe by a judicial committee and setting aside of the order of the state government to allot land.
The government land at Patla village in Amreli district was allotted to one Wildwoods Resort & Reallties Pvt. Ltd (WRR), owned by the alleged business partners of Anar Patel, at a concession rate of Rs 15 per square metre as against the actual valuation of `180 per square metre, the PIL had said.
The PIL demanded a probe by a judicial committee and setting aside of the order of the state government to allot land to WRR.
“A three-tier system for determination of the real market value of the land was followed in the present case before the cabinet considered and finalised the same owing to the fact that the valuation of the land in question was more than Rs 1 crore,” the affidavit said.
It stated that while determining the allotment of the land, reports from Mamlatdar and Collector were sought apart from opinion from the department of tourism and an NoC from the forest department.
