New Delhi: After Adarsh society,a new scam illegal diversion of huge tracts of forest land worth hundreds of crores of rupees for a pittance to developers in Pune is staring at the Maharashtra Govt. The main player appears to be industries minister Narayan Rane,who in his earlier avatar as revenue minister approved the illegal allotment of forest land for private purposes.The Central Empowered Committee (CEC),in its report to the Supreme Court, has recommended his prosecution.
The charge: Rane as revenue minister in the Shiv Sena government in 1999 approved the allotment of forest land for cultivation purposes and the allottee was a mere intermediary for subsequent transfer of the land without mandatory clearance from the Centre under Forest Conservation Act (FCA) to builders at a very low price. Rane was revenue minister from 1996-1999 in the Shiv Sena government before heading it as chief minister for a brief period in 1999.He quit Sena in 2005 and joined Congress,which inducted him as revenue minister,a position he enjoyed till December 2008 and again for a year from November 2009. CEC has also recommended prosecution of the then divisional commissioner of Pune who granted permission for sale of the land in favour of the private person for construction of buildings, then deputy conservator of forest Ashok Khadse for issuing the 'no-objection certificate' and builder Aniruddha P Deshpande.
The report, which was submitted to the SC after a site visit by CEC chairman PV Jayakrishnan,member secretary M K Jiwrajika and amicus curiae ADN Rao,said,"Senior functionaries and officers of the government of Maharashtra,responsible for the allotment/use of the said reserve forest in violation of the FC Act and SC's December 12,1996,order,should be prosecuted for criminal breach of trust and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code."
The modus operandi of diversion of forest land in favour of Richie Rich and Greenfield Cooperative Housing Societies was to allot the forest land for agricultural purposes to a person and then surreptiti-ously transfer them to builders for a song. "It is clear that the said land was never intended to be used for agriculture.On the contrary,it was a ploy to give the land to the builder society for construction of multistoreyed buildings with a view to make windfall profits,"the CEC said. "The allottees of the land thus appear to be mere intermediaries and also appear to be there only to facilitate transfer of the land to the actual beneficiaries,namely the society,at a ridiculously low valuation,"the CEC said and recommended cancellation of land allotment to the two societies.
But this is not all.The CEC feels that these two societies were part of a huge racket involving politician-bureaucratbuilder nexus responsible for illegal diversion of forest land to realtors."Large tracts of forest area in Maharashtra,including reserved forest,are also under the administrative control of revenue department,"it said. The CEC chairman has sought permission from the Forest Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia to "constitute a multi-disciplinary special investigation team (SIT) to examine details of all reserve forests under the administrative control of revenue department in Pune and which have been allotted/allowed to be used in the past without obtaining approval under the FC Act".
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(source-toi)
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