NCP accuses Chandrakant Patil of irregularities in land deals

NCP's Maharashtra chief Jayant Patil Wednesday accused Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil of irregularities in deals of two plots in Pune district.

In one of the two cases, the state exchequer even faced a loss of Rs 42 crore, he alleged.

Jayant Patil levelled the charges during a press conference here, where he also demanded the BJP leader's resignation.

According to the NCP leader, in Haveli taluka of Pune district, a devasthan land was illegally transferred without any "nazrana" (premium fee) being levied.

"The Mhasoba Devasthan land was handed over to Radhaswami Satsang, which made an application to the district collector to regularise the transfer deal and make the land non-agricultural. The revenue commissioner rejected the plea for non-payment of premium fee," he said.

"When an appeal was made to the minister, he used his quasi-judicial powers and cleared the transaction without recovering the premium," he said.

"The land was sold at Rs 84 crore and the state government faced a loss of Rs 42 crore for non-payment of premium fee," he added.

In the second case, the NCP leader accused the minister of favouring a builder over a land at Balewadi in Pune.

The NCP leader alleged that a land reserved for a playground was usurped by Shivpriya Realtors.

"But, the minister favoured the builder," he charged, seeking his resignation.

However, Chandrakant Patil refuted the allegations.

Talking to reporters, he said as per the 1885 land records, the land was not mentioned as devasthan land (inam land) and hence no premium fees were required to be paid.

In case of Balewadi land, there was no decision, but only the land evaluation officer was replaced, he said.

Earlier in the day, Jayant Patil also made these allegations in the Legislative Assembly during a debate on the budget demands for the revenue department.

However, Speaker Haribhau Bagade expunged the remarks after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vinod Tawde said that the member had not given a notice before making these personal allegations.