Illegal flats near Kasauli to be seized: Court upholds Solan DC’s order
Divisional commissioner validates 2019 ruling to transfer 45 bighas of disputed land to the state.
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The disputed land, located in three villages—Jaul, Khadoli, and Shakri—near Kasauli, was purchased under the guise of building flats, allegedly with investments from outside the state through local intermediaries. (Express Photo) The Shimla Divisional Commissioner’s court has upheld the 2019 order of the Solan Deputy Commissioner to transfer 45 bighas of land, where nearly 90 flats worth crores were built in violation of Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972.
The disputed land, located in three villages—Jaul, Khadoli, and Shakri—near Kasauli, was purchased under the guise of building flats, allegedly with investments from outside the state through local intermediaries. The matter surfaced in 2014 when a Solan resident, Santosh Kumar, filed a police complaint. A subsequent investigation revealed large sums of money transferred into local accounts, leading to the construction of multi-story flats in violation of land transfer laws.
In 2019, then Solan DC Kritika Kulhari declared the land acquisitions illegal and ordered their transfer to the state government. Although the case faced legal challenges and was referred back by the Financial Commissioner in 2021, the divisional commissioner recently upheld the original decision. The respondents may now challenge the ruling before an appellate authority.
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