Fadnavis announces stay on transactions in Navi Mumbai land

A day after ordering a judicial probe into the Navi Mumbai land deal case, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today announced a stay on all transactions related to that land.

Making a brief statement in the Legislative Council, Fadnavis said the land cannot be sold or leased out till the judicial inquiry is complete.

He also instructed the revenue department to ensure that no third party interest is created and no further transactions are done in this case till the inquiry is done.

The business of the Council, which began at noon, lasted only for seven minutes as it was adjourned soon afterwards.

Flooding in the switching centre that provides power to the Vidhan Bhavan forced the authorities to turn off the electricity supply for security reasons in the morning hours.

"A judicial inquiry has been ordered into the Koyna PAP land issue and sale and leasing of that land has been prohibited till the inquiry report comes," Fadnavis said.

The chief minister had yesterday announced in the Assembly that he would order a judicial probe into land deal.

Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam had last Monday alleged that land in Navi Mumbai, meant for eight project affected people (PAP) of the Koyna dam and worth Rs 1,767 crore, was given to a private builder for just Rs 3.60 crore.

On the power supply woes in Vidhan Bhavan today, Maharshtra Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, "Since it was raining since last night, water entered the switching centre of Vidhan Bhavan. In order to remove water and avoid moisture in the switching room, power supply had to be turned off for some time."
"Our stand is vindicated. It shows there was truth in what we had alleged. If the stay wasn't given, the government would have to face embarrassment during the judicial probe."