Cheap land case: High Court asks ex-ministers to file affidavits

PIL is based on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report, says activist Hemant Patil

The Bombay high court on Monday directed former Maharashtra ministers Narayan Rane, Chhagan Bhujbal and Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, to file their reply within two weeks through an affidavit in reply to a public interest litigation (PIL) that alleged these political leaders were given land at throwaway prices by the government to set up educational trusts.

Former minister Patangrao Kadam was among the respondents and he filed an affidavit on Monday denying having received any favours from the government in getting land at cheap rates for setting up trusts. In his affidavit, Mr Kadam claimed that he followed all the rules to get the land to set up his Bharatiya Vidyapeeth Trust in Pune and there was no illegality involved. According to his affidavit, all rules had been strictly followed and that the PIL was politically motivated and allegations levelled against him in the PIL were false and hence it should be dismissed with costs.

The PIL has also made former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh a respondent, alleging that he too had received land at cheap rates to build educational institutions. However, his name was dropped after he passed away.

On the other hand, the petitioner, Hemant Patil, a Pune-based social activist has said that the PIL is based on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report.

According to the PIL, the CAG report had alleged that Mr Kadam was allotted nearly 20,000 square metres of land in Pune free of cost for his own educational institute. It further alleged that the CAG report had mentioned that former minister Chhagan Bhujbal had been gifted 50,000 square metres of land in Nashik for his educational institute, Mumbai Education Trust (MET).

The division bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Anil K. Menon directed other respondents to file their responses within two weeks.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is also one of the respondents in this matter because he had raised this issue in Maharashtra State Assembly during Congress-NCP rule when he was an MLA. He had alleged that the Maharashtra government intentionally hid the CAG report to save political leaders.