Navi Mumbai land scam allegations: Shirsat claims innocence, calls it a publicity stunt by Rohit Pawar

He claimed that the officials of CIDCO have already answered to the allegations and no wrongdoing has been committed.

Pawar accused Shirsat of illegally handing over 15 acres of prime land in Navi Mumbai worth Rs 5,000 crore to a particular family during his tenure as the chairman of City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) in the previous government led by Shinde.

On Wednesday, an all-party protest was held at CIDCO office in Navi Mumbai, demanding the rollback of land transfer decision. According to CIDCO officials, the decision was taken as per the directions of urban development department (UDD), which was led by then CM Eknath Shinde.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has already said that the Opposition should make the allegations backed by evidence. “I never speak anything without evidence. I request CM Fadnavis to give me an appointment where I will submit all the evidence to him. I am sure that after going through the documents, the CM himself will throw him out of the cabinet,” said Pawar. He said that since Shirsat has replied to the allegations and says that there is no evidence, he was ready to give papers to Shirsat as well.

According to Pawar, the story dates back to the British era when one Bivalkar family was awarded more than 4,000 acres of land for helping the British against the Maratha Empire in 15 villages of present day Roha, Panvel, Alibaug and Uran tehsils.

“By claiming it as a personal gift, the lands were first saved from Bombay Personal Inams Abolition Act, 1952 and later prior to land ceiling act in 1961, registering lands as reserved forest. However, in 1975, the Maharashtra Private Forest Acquisition Act came, in which their entire land went to the government. In 1985, the Bivalkar family objected to the Private Forest Acquisition Act, which the collector rejected in 1989. In 1990, they went to the High Court. In 2010, another appeal was filed, which was clubbed. In October 2014, the High Court ruled in favour of the Bivalkar family. After coming to know about it in 2015, the government appealed in the Supreme Court and the order was stayed,” Pawar had explained.

“Despite CIDCO reports against giving 12.5 per cent land to the family, Sanjay Shirsat cleared the file in his first meeting as CIDCO chairman whereby giving 61,000 square metre land with market value of Rs 5,000 crore and a tripartite agreement on 8,000-square metre  land has already been signed,” Pawar had alleged.