West Bengal: DM awarded civil imprisonment for non-payment of revised price to land owners

A local court on Thursday sentenced East Burdwan district magistrate to one month's civil imprisonment for non-payment of revised price to owners of land acquisitioned for a satellite township.

Additional District Judge Mohammad Reza directed District Magistrate Anurag Srivastava to personally appear before the court on September 17 when he would be sent to a civil prison.

The court had directed the district administration in 2012 to pay Rs 1.35 crore, the revised amount, for 1.73 acres of land to the three people who owned it, but it was not paid, the petitioners' counsel Rajkumar Gupta said.

With interest, the amount now stands at Rs 1.92 crore.

Srivastava said he would move the high court after getting a copy of the order.

The land was acquisitioned in 2005-06 and at that time, the price paid was Rs 5,886 per decimal, Gupta said.

Seeking a price of Rs 35,000 per decimal, the three owners - Abdul Aziz, Abdul Rahim and Abdul Alim - moved court, which ordered the district administration to pay the revised amount. As it was not paid, the three moved court again, he said.