Ownership of Congress UP HQ: Civic body calls for final hearing on October 4

Congress state president Raj Babbar said that all this is being done “unnecessarily with the backing of the government”. (Representational image)

Two months after a Lucknow-based businessman, Manish Agarwal, claimed that the state Congress headquarters building was bought by his grandfather in an auction in 1961, the party has failed to furnish documents to prove its ownership of the property in the posh Mall Avenue area here, despite several reminders by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC).

The LMC has called for final hearing in the case on October 4. If the Congress fails to present the papers, the matter would be referred to the court to decide, an LMC official said.

Congress state president Raj Babbar said that all this is being done “unnecessarily with the backing of the government”. “Such a claim has no basis and moreover, they (LMC) have not yet provided us the documents, on the basis of which this claim (Manish Agarwal’s claim) has been made.”

Congress spokesperson Virendra Madan said, “We have not been given the papers submitted by Manish Agarwal… Why should we provide our papers? The municipal corporation in its own letter and notice had claimed that the property was registered in the name of Mohsina Kidwai, the then state president of Congress. So, they should first provide us the papers and then we would submit our papers.”

Ashok Singh, Zonal Officer of LMC Zone-1, who had served the notice two months ago, refuted the allegations. “We have already given them (Congress) all the documents on the basis of which the claim was made. Despite our constant reminders, they have failed to submit documents to support their ownership… Earlier, I had kept September 25 as the date of hearing but they requested to postpone it to October 4,” he said.

Singh said that if the party fails to submit valid papers on October 4, then they will make necessary corrections in the records and refer the case to the court.

“The municipal corporation, on its own, cannot decide the right of title over any property. We are open to the idea of searching our records and have even asked them to give the dates on which the property was registered in their name,” Singh said.

On July 26, Agarwal had submitted the sale deed as well as tax assessment of the year 1970 as well as 1986, claiming that the tax assessment documents showed that the property was registered in the name of Ram Swaroop Agarwal and Padmavati Agarwal, C/O UP Congress Committee Mohsina Kidwai, state president of Congress (I) and Jawahar Lal Nehru Trust.