Navi Mumbai land deal: CM orders stay on all sale transactions related to plot

A day after a judicial probe was announced in the alleged land scam involving a plot in Navi Mumbai’s of Kharghar, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a stay on all transactions pertaining to the land in question.

State revenue authorities have been directed to ensure that no transfer of sale of land is initiated until the probe is complete.

Fadnavis made a statement in the legislative council on Friday, soon after business resumed in the House. The district collector and revenue officials have been directed to stop all processes related to the sale of land, he said, adding that the orders have been issued today. “No transaction related to sale, transfer or lease will take place until the probe report is submitted,” the CM said.

On Thursday, the CM announced a judicial probe into the land transaction after the Opposition raised the issue in the state legislative assembly and demanded his resignation. Not only will transactions involving the 24-acre plot in question be looked at, but 200 cases dealing with the allotment of 606 hectares of land to project-affected persons by the Congress in the past 20 years would be probed, Fadnavis said.

The announcement came after the Opposition, led by the Congress, alleged that the Fadnavis-led BJP government had helped a private builder “illegally acquire” 24 acres of Cidco-owned land in Kharghar by giving it to families displaced by the Koyna power project and allowing them to sell it, though it is not permitted as per rules.

The builder in question, Manish Bhatija of Paradise Builders, is close to BJP MLC Prasad Lad, and is sid to have purchased the land for Rs3.6 crore, though its estimated value is Rs1,768 crore, the Congress has alleged.