Uproar in Assembly over minister's clarification on land deals

The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Thursday witnessed uproarious scenes over Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil's clarification in the House over the charges of irregularities in land deals, levelled against him by NCP leader Jayant Patil.

Due to the commotion, the House was adjourned twice.

Jayant Patil, who is NCP's Maharashtra unit chief, had Wednesday accused the minister of irregularities in deals of two plots in Pune district. In a press conference, he had alleged that the state exchequer incurred a loss of Rs 42 crore in one of the deals.

Before talking to reporters, he had also made these allegations in the Legislative Assembly during a debate. However, his remarks were later expunged from the Assembly records.

On Thursday, Chandrakant Patil, gave a clarification in the House after the Question Hour, in which he denied any wrongdoings in the two land deals.

However, NCP leaders objected to the minister's clarification on the ground the Jayant Patil's remarks on the issue had been expunged from the proceedings Wednesday.

Jayant Patil said the minister had responded to his allegations by addressing a press conference and there was no need for the clarification when the allegations were expunged from the House proceedings.

His party colleague Ajit Pawar demanded that Patil's speech be made part of the proceedings or he be allowed to speak on the minister's clarification.

Thereafter, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vinod Tawde and Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar came to Chandrakant Patil's defence.

Tawde said the NCP leader's speech was expunged since it contained allegations made without giving prior notice.

Mungantiwar said the minister has the right to give his clarification to the allegations made outside the House.

Amid uproarious scenes, Deputy Speaker Vijay Auti adjourned the House twice- first for 15 minutes and later for 20 minutes.

In his clarification, Chandrakant Patil said the 17 hectares of land at Haveli taluka in Pune district was privately-owned and not "devasthan" land coming under Inam III category and hence the levy of premium was not necessary.

He admitted that Pune divisional commissioner had asked for payment of premium for the transfer of land to Radhaswami Satsang in 2008. An appeal was made to the district collector that the plot did not belong to the Inam III category and no premium payment was necessary.

Both- the district collector and the commissioner- rejected the contention of Radhaswami Satsang that the plot did not fall under Inam III category, Patil said.

Thereafter, the government was approached, in which it was clear that the land did not come under Inam III as it was not registered in the "alienation book", he said.

Similarly, in the Balewadi land, Shivpriya Realtors complained about the land measurement and hence the job was transferred to another deputy superintendent of land records, the minister said.