Pune land scam over-shadows Adarsh, says high court

In the continuing saga of scams, yet another one has surfaced, this time involving lakhs of sq metres of land in Pune. Valued at a minimum of Rs3 billion, it involves  the issue of fraudulent no objection certificates by government officials.

''This is more serious than any other scam in the country,'' said justice B H Marlapalle of the Bombay High Court, while dealing with a public interest litigation involving the issue of bogus NOCs. ''This is a mini-2G scam. Lakhs of square feet of land has been relegated on fake and bogus orders passed under the Urban Land Ceiling Act.''

Taking up the PIL filed in 2005, the judges indicated they would like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to handle the matter. The court asked CBI officials to be present at the next hearing on Thursday. The public prosecutor informed the court that he would seek instructions from the government about transferring the case to the CBI.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman, Madhav Bhandari, filed the PIL in 2005, claiming that nearly 12,000 returns (including statements of property extracts and details of persons having interest in land) were filed under the now-repealed ULCA in Pune between 1976 and 2005. Under the act, an individual could hold just 500 sq metres of land and anything in excess was to be taken over by the state to provide housing for the poor.

According to the petitioner, several fake orders were issued by government officials, indicating large tracts of land were 'non-surplus,' exempting the landowners from surrendering it to the state. Bogus orders on the basis of fraudulent NOCs were issued to help several landowners and builders, the PIL alleged.

The petitioner pointed out that when the scam was first exposed in 2005 by an additional collector, the government ordered the state CID to conduct a probe. One of the beneficiaries even had to pay a fine of Rs8 crore. ''If the penalty from one accused could enrich the state exchequer by Rs 8 crore, the 300 files awaiting scrutiny by the state CID can yield a lot of money for the state coffers,'' said the petitioner.

The judges also went over a report submitted by a retired IAS officer, appointed by the government, to scrutinise 235 files involving the bogus orders. ''We are of the conclusion that a minister of state also seems to be involved in the scam,'' remarked the court.

A recent land scam, involving the Adarsh housing society in Mumbai's posh Cuffe Parade area, has already snared in several politicians. Former chief minister Ashok Chavan had to quit after it emerged that some of his relatives had been allotted flats in the building originally meant for relatives of defence personnel killed in the Kargil war.