UP Congress fighting ownership claim on state headquarter premises

Party sought time from Lucknow Municipal Corporation to prove ownership

Congress is fending off ownership claims to its UP Congress Committee (UPCC) premises in the Mall Avenue area in Lucknow.

The precincts ‘Nehru Bhawan’ was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on December 3, 1979.

Now, a city based businessman, Manish Agarwal, has claimed the ownership of this property and formally applied before the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) to transfer the same in his family’s name.

Agarwal has already submitted relevant documents with the LMC, which on its part later issued a notice to UPCC to reply to the claims along with the property ownership papers. He claimed the property was originally owned by his grandfather Ram Swaroop Agarwal, who had bought it from a government auction in 1961.

He has also submitted the various land and mutation papers dating back to the 1970s, which clearly mentions the name of his grandfather as owner.

However, another land document pertaining to 1986 mentions Ram Swaroop Agarwal as the owner, but also has another name of then UPCC president Mohsina Kidwai as care of (c/o) entered in the records.

Besides, another, document of early 2000s shows Kidwai’s name, while the name of the original owner Ram Swaroop Agarwal is missing from the records.

Meanwhile, Congress has sought some time from the LMC to produce the documents and reply to the notice.

An LMC official told Business Standard on condition of anonymity that Congress’ counsel had visited the office last week in this regard.

“The counsel contended that the property papers of the UPCC premises were kept with the central party office in New Delhi and it needs some time to recover these documents, since the matter relates to over 2-3 decades,” he informed.

LMC has also not been able to find the missing records, which would show how and when Kidwai’s names were entered in the land records.

Meanwhile, UP Congress spokesperson Zeeshan Haider said the party would produce all the relevant papers before the LMC and termed it a publicity stunt on part of Agarwal to lay such claim. “Where was he (Agarwal) all of these years and how come he suddenly comes forth to claim the ownership of the UPCC premises.”