Will take steps after legal view to scrap Navi Mumbai land

The Maharashtra government would seek the view of the law and judiciary department and take steps to scrap all transactions related to a Navi Mumbai land deal, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the Legislative Assembly today.

The government has already stayed transactions in the wake of the allegations of "scam" raised by the Congress-led opposition.

The Congress had alleged that the land worth Rs 1,767 crore, meant for eight project affected people (PAP) of the Koyna dam, was given to a private builder for just Rs 3.60 crore. The party had also claimed that the transaction had the "blessings" of Fadnavis.

Following a hue and cry, Fadnavis had announced a judicial probe into the alleged scam along with 200 other such land deals carried out under the erstwhile governments led by the Congress-NCP combine.

Replying to questions raised by opposition leaders in the Assembly today, the chief minister also informed the Lower House that the government had requested chief justice of the Bombay High Court to suggest name/s of judges who would probe the alleged scam.

When NCP leader Jayant Patil suggested Fadnavis to cancel the transactions instead of staying the deal in the House today, Fadnavis said, "We will have to cancel all the deals (200 other deals too), if we were to cancel the transactions (related to the alleged Navi Mumbai scam). Because all the transactions happened in the same manner".

When Patil suggested cancellation of all such deals, Fadnavis said, "We will have to see what are the implications of doing so as the transactions concerned were carried out since 2008. As regard to the particular case (of Navi Mumbai)...we will seek opinion of law and judiciary and take steps to cancel the deal".