HC notice to govt for allegedly giving cheap land to trusts

The Bombay High Court has issued notice to Maharashtra government and educational trusts run by former Chief Minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh and former Ministers Narayan Rane, Chhagan Bhujbal, Patangrao Kadam and Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, asking them to reply to a PIL alleging allotment of land to them at nominal rates.
The notices, returnable on November 21, were issued recently by a bench of justices Abhay Oka and Girish Kulkarni.
The PIL, filed by Pune-based activist Hemant Patil, is based on a report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and has sought a probe into the allotment of land at throwaway prices allegedly to favour politicians.

According to the PIL, the CAG report alleged that Deshmukh had approved the transfer of 24000 square metres land to his Manjra Education Trust, while Patangrao Kadam was allotted nearly 20000 square meters land in Pune free of cost for his own educational institute, Bharti.
The PIL has alleged that the CAG report had mentioned former Minister Chhagan Bhujbal being gifted 50,000 square metres of land in Nashik for his educational institute, Mumbai Education Trust (MET).
The issue was raised earlier by BJP MLA Devandra Fadnavis who had alleged that the CAG report was intentionally hidden by the government to save political leaders. Since Fadnavis raised the issue, he has also been made a respondent in the petition.