MUMBAI, 26 January 2007 - A complaint filed by a local lawyer in the Bombay High Court has accused Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane of causing huge losses to the state exchequer. The public interest litigation filed by advocate Subash Jadhav will come up for hearing on Jan. 31.
Jadhav, in his petition, said that Rane's decision to allow the sale of Mukand company land at Kurla in Mumbai has resulted in the loss of Rs 1,000 million to the state exchequer. Rane's order was illegal, unlawful and arbitrary, the advocate said in his petition.
Jadhav pointed out that Mukand company which was in possession of the land had submitted a petition before the state government seeking permission for sale or redevelopment of its land. In its application on March 23, 2003, the company had admitted that they were in possession of the land as 'occupant class-II' and were willing to pay unearned income equivalent to 50 percent of the market value of the land to the government.
However, Jadhav alleged that in the order dated Sept. 14, 2005, Rane had held that Mukand company was not required to seek the state government's permission for the sale or redevelopment of its land and directed the collector in charge of the Mumbai suburban district to change the tenure of the land held by Mukand company from 'occupant class-II' to 'occupant class-I' when no such relief was sought by the company in its first application.
The petitioner said that the order passed by Rane is not only arbitrary, but also exceeds the 'jurisdiction vested in him' as it was for the collector and the revenue officials concerned to conduct necessary inquiry and then adjudicate the tenure of the land held by the company.
