Pune land ‘scam’: Revenue officials should have exercised due diligence, refused faulty registrations, says Ajit Pawar

“It was expected that the officials would verify the documents during the transaction and take action once they noticed discrepancies. The officials who received the documents for registration of a deal should have refused to register it. They should have clearly informed the parties that such an agreement cannot be processed,” said Pawar while interacting with journalists after the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Assembly in Nagpur on Saturday.

Pawar was responding to queries following the amendment to the Maharashtra Stamp Act, cleared by the state government on Friday. The bill proposing amendment to the Act was moved by Revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and passed in the Assembly unanimously. The amendment empowers the revenue minister to hear an appeal against the ruling given by the IGR related to stamp duty.

When asked if the amendment was introduced to protect Parth, who holds a 99 per cent equity stake in Amadea Enterprises LLP, Pawar reiterated that the responsibility lay with the registering authorities. “We are elected representatives in the House, and people have voted for us. We are free to take decisions or make amendments we find suitable,” said the Deputy CM.

The reiteration by the Deputy CM comes two days after the Bombay High Court asked if the Maharashtra Police were protecting Parth Pawar and why he was not being investigated in connection with the alleged irregularities in a land deal involving a firm linked to him. A single-judge bench of Justice Madhav J Jamdar posed the question while hearing an anticipatory bail plea by Sheetal Kishanchand Tejwani, who has been arrested in the case.

Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has said that under the earlier provision, complainants dissatisfied with decisions at the level of the IGR had to approach the high court. After the amendment, such complainants can now approach the revenue minister, who will be authorised to hold hearings in these matters.

The deal pertains to a 40-acre land in Pune’s upscale Mundhwa area, reportedly worth Rs 1,800 crore, that was allegedly sold to Amedea Enterprises LLP, where Parth Pawar is a partner, for Rs 300 crore with a stamp duty waiver of Rs 21 crore. The deal was cancelled after it emerged that the plot belongs to the government and it could not be sold.

A committee headed by the Joint Inspector General of Registration had indicted Digvijay Patil (Parth Pawar’s business partner and cousin), Sheetal Tejwani (who held the power of attorney on behalf of the land sellers), and sub-registrar Ravindra Taru. They were named in an FIR registered at a police station in Pune. Parth Pawar was not named as his name didn’t appear on any document.

-With inputs from PTI