C'garh HC disposes of petition against state minister

The Chhattisgarh High Court today disposed of a petition demanding investigation into the alleged purchase and encroachment of a "forest land" by a state minister's family in Mahasamund district.

The petition, filed by Congress leader and former mayor of Raipur Kiranmayee Nayak and her husband Vinod Nayak, was disposed of by a division bench of Chief Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi and Justice Prashant Mishra, the petitioners lawyer Satish Chandra Verma said.

The public interest litigation had alleged that state Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal's wife and son had encroached on around 100 acres of land in Jalki village in Mahasamund and built a resort there, Verma said.

The petitioners had alleged that of the encroached plot, several acres consisted of land given to the government by farmers through "daanpatra" (gift deed for public use).

Despite a complaint being registered in this connection with the states Economic Offences Wing (EOW), no action was taken, the petition alleged.

Later, Kiranmayee Nayak, who had contested and lost the 2013 Assembly polls against Agrawal from the Raipur South seat, and her husband filed a PIL, Verma said.

Advocate General JK Gilda, who was representing the state, said that, during the hearing, he had presented an affidavit of the states EOW in which the probe agency had mentioned that it had registered a case based on Nayak's complaint.

In view of the affidavit, the high court disposed of the petition, Gilda said.