Special priority given to plot in 2000: Collector

“The Chief Minister’s direction was for calling the proposal immediately and submitting the same,” Oak told the court. The letter was marked as ‘urgent’,which according to Oak,was ‘not a common practice’ during the tenure of the then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. The Collector said he was not aware as to why it was marked as urgent.

Earlier,Vilasrao Deshmukh had stated in his affidavit filed before the two-member judicial panel,“The Chief Minister and/or Minister rely upon the (the administration) while dealing with the file.” He also stated that the Collector’s office is “the most closely associated with preparation of the proposal for the allotment of land”.

The Collector also said that the no-objection certificate (NOC) that was given by the Defence Ministry was sought to allot the land to the proposed society for service personnel. He added that he was not aware of any fresh NOC being sought when membership was extended to civilians.

While being questioned by Dipan Merchant,senior counsel for the commission,Oak said the military had been in “unauthorised occupation” of the disputed land since 1980. However,he admitted that his office does not have any written record of this and that no action was taken by his office against the said encroachment. The court has asked Debashish Chakraborty,who was the Collector in 2000,to file an affidavit stating his position on the issue by July 20.