Thane: In a case reminiscent of Amitabh Bachhan’s farm land controversy, an influential family from Parel in Mumbai has been fined about Rs 2 crore for “fraudulently” buying pieces of lands in Ambernath Taluka of Thane district after an RTI activist dug out the details over a four- and-half-year-long fight.
In a twist to the case, a crucial file bearing what is officially called mutation of entries, changes in titles of lands, has gone missing from revenue records, Activist Nandakumar Pawar said, quoting information obtained under the RTI Act.
Ambernath Tahsildar Prashanti Mane has passed the order imposing the penalty on Temton Minu Ankleshwaria and his family members Shirin Minu, Ruby Temton, Diana Minu and Minu Nadirshah following a complaint filed by activist Nandakumar Pawar.
FPJ
Complaint filed by Pawar
The order dated December 5, 2022 says that Mane found violations under Section 84 of the Land Tenancy Act in the 2.06-hectare land bearing survey numbers 26/1 and 26/2/A at Chamtoli village in Ambernath in Thane district.
Considering that the market price works out to Rs 1,100 a sq mtr, the Tahsildar came to the conclusion that the price of the land works out to Rs 2.71 crore and directed the Ankleshwarias to pay 50 percent which is Rs 1.35 crore plus. In addition, the family split the lands into small plots without government permission for which Mane imposed a penalty of Rs 67.78 lakhs. Totally, the Ankleshwarias are supposed to pay over Rs 2.03 crores to the government.
Complainant Pawar said, " The order is just the beginning of a larger scam. The Tahsildar took note of several other lands falling under at least 20 survey numbers and the total area comes to much more than 2.06 hectares. The other lands were not considered and the Tahsildar chose to keep them outside the purview of the Land Tenancy Act which is highly mysterious."
“The Chamtoli revenue officer (Talati) told me that he has made two files bearing numbers 711 and 365 of all the land deals by the Ankleshwarias and sent them to the central record office at Ambernath office. But, only one file - 711 - was made available to me under the RTI Act while the officials at the Ambernath office said they do not have the second file number 365,” Pawar narrated and requested the Thane District Collector to investigate it.
Missing file '365'
The Tahsildar Mane told Pawar that she would look into the other mutation entries as and when the missing file 365 is found.
B N Kumar, a social activist said, "Considering the seriousness of the issue,we have written letter to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to order a high-level probe into the entire deal issue including the missing documents episode.The Tahsildar order is in a way incomplete since it does not clearly specify the violations."
Considering the penalty amounts, the offences appear to be significant and the revenue officials ought to have filed criminal cases against offenders and those officials who complied with the deals, said Kumar.
Pawar files separate application
The complainant has been asked to make a separate application for details of the order which Pawar did.
Pawar said, "I have been fighting the case for over four and half years ever since I came to know of the fraud land deals involving hundreds of acres. As per the law, a farmer can sell his land only to a certified farmer, that too after the Tahsildar is convinced of the compulsion on part of the seller. I asked for details of the Ankleshwaria family’s farmer credentials and the revenue authorities at Ambernath and Kalyan said they do not have any such record."
The Tahsildar’s order imposing the hefty penalties obviously admits the lapses to say the least, but does not explain it, Pawar lamented.
Pawar has requested Ambernath Tahsildar Mane to give details and justification for partially admitting his case.
Pawar said and pointed out that he would go to the court if the information on how and why other survey numbers were not taken into consideration.He has been communicating with the then Thane collector Rajesh Narvekar who is now the Commissioner of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation.
