CBI to probe ULCRA scam

However,the PIL filed by BJP spokesman Madhav Bhandari,targeted at exposing the irregularities in the Urban Development Ministry of the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra,may have backfired on the BJP with Justice BH Marlapalle and Justice UD Salvi directing the CBI to file a fresh case against Mumbai BJP chief Raj Purohit,who was Minister of State for Urban Development,and other revenue officers allegedly involved in the scam within six weeks.

Earlier this month,Justice Marlapalle had observed that lakhs of square feet of land that should have been surrendered to the state government under the Act had been usurped using bogus records. “In most of the cases,orders were passed by the minister and revenue officers without calling for records. This is not only an extraordinary case but an unprecedented one in the history of Maharashtra,” the court said on Tuesday.

Earlier,the state government had appointed retired IAS officer Sudhakar Joshi to scrutinise 235 files in which bogus documents were allegedly submitted under the ULCRA. Bhandari’s PIL,filed in 2005,stated that between 1976 and 2005,11,894 returns were filed under the ULCRA in Pune. The returns pertained to statements of property extracts and details of persons having interest in the land. It alleges that bogus orders were passed under the Act to avoid surrendering excess land to the government.

“According to the report,submitted by the one-man committee appointed by the government,the minister (Purohit) and several revenue officers of the Urban Development Department abused their powers and passed brazenly fraudulent orders,” Tthe judges said in their order. “The CBI shall take over the probe and shall take steps to register FIR against all those revenue officers named in the report as well as Purohit,then Minister of State for Urban Development…”

Senior counsel Niteen Pradhan who represented Purohit said they will contest the HC order in the Supreme Court.

Twenty-nine cases were registered by the Crime Investigation Department (CID),Pune,between December 2010 and January 2011 pursuant to court orders,however,none of the officers named in Joshi’s report were named in the cases,the HC observed. “Some of the land owners and developers named are heavyweights,” the court said adding that this was one of the main reasons they felt an independent agency,not attached to the state government,should take over the probe. The CBI has been asked to form a special investigation team within a week and the state government has been asked to extend logistical and infrastructural support to the agency.

Bhandari said he would not like to comment till he gets the copy of the order.