HC relief for CM Shinde as he cancels Nagpur land allotment

Nagpur: In a relief to chief minister Eknath Shinde, whose resignation the Opposition has been demanding for allotting prime Nagpur land to 16 individuals at a throwaway price, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on Thursday expressed its satisfaction with the new affidavit submitted by the state urban development department. The affidavit states that the allotment has been cancelled through an order of December 16, and the land has been made available to the slum dwellers for whom it was originally intended.

The department also told the court that its officials had not informed Shinde about the ongoing petition in court, and that it was an unintentional mistake. “That the Geelani Committee report (on the allotment of government land) is under consideration before the high court came to my knowledge only after the court remarks on December 14,” Shinde said in his affidavit.

The opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has been attacking Shinde on his allotment of 4.5 acres of Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) land to private individuals in April 2021. Shinde, as urban development minister, had allotted the land reserved for slum dwellers to 16 private individuals despite the matter being sub-judice.

Considering the issue settled, the court disposed of the application for settlement. “Considering the fact that now the order of regularisation has been withdrawn by the hon’ble chief minister as per his order dated 16.12.2022, we are of the view that the purpose of the order dated 14.12.2022 passed by this court has been served and now this issue is closed,” said a division bench, comprising Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice M W Chandwani.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), however, kept up the attack on Shinde, with party MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut demanding a probe by central agencies in the “ ₹100-crore scam”. Raut also claimed that BJP leaders were behind the allegations against Shinde, and state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Pravin Datke and Nagorao Ganar had asked a question in the assembly to investigate this. “This shows that BJP legislators close to Devendra Fadnavis want this to be exposed,” he said. “This government will not last beyond February, as attempts are being made to pull it down.”

Raut also declared that the fresh attempts by the BJP to rake up the Sushant Singh Rajput and Disha Salian death cases were attempts to divert the attention from the Nagpur land scam. He added that his party would take the case to its logical conclusion.

“We will ask Prime Minister Modi and home minister Shah whether they will probe this case since they have been vowing to end corruption,” he said. “We would also like to know if agencies like the Enforcement Directorate are paying attention to this scam in which government land worth ₹100 crore was handed over to builders for a mere ₹2 crore. The beneficiaries of the scam are sitting in the government.”

Raut also sarcastically asked why BJP leader Kiriti Somaiya, who fancies himself as an anti-corruption crusader, was quiet on the issue.