After land row, MIDC plans parallel records, digitisation of old ones

“At present, the records are with various land acquisition offices of the state government and not in the main MIDC office. After the recent controversy, we have realised that we should have parallel records in our office too to check the status of land acquisition and ready an updated list of land proposed for acquisition, land acquired, compensation announced and compensation awarded,” said a senior MIDC official.

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In this connection, MIDC officials conducted a meeting and instructions have been given to ready such data by collating information from all land acquisition offices, an official said. Under various stages of acquisition, the Land Selection Committee decides to acquire land for industries under Chapter 6 of the MIDC Act after checking the land for its connectivity, water availability, non-agricultural and non-irrigated purpose.

A High Power Committee has to first approve the land acquisition, following which it has to be approved at the ministerial level. After the intention of land acquisition is declared under Chapter 6, section 32 (2) comes into play. It relates to inviting suggestions and objections, following which a hearing is slated.

Later, these suggestions are reported by the land acquisition officer to the government, after which section 32 (1) is applied which means that the land vests with the government. This is followed by declaration of compensation to the owner.

At present, the land acquisition process for MIDC is handled at various stages and all the data lies with different land acquisition officers. MIDC aims to have all this data in its main office and set up a parallel record room to readily verify the title of the land.

“Besides having an inventory of all these records, we also plan to digitise all past records to ensure that they are available to the department at the click of a mouse. We are planning to scan these documents too,” said an MIDC official.

As the land acquisition office is responsible for making the actual compensation, the MIDC would get the final report from them. Having a clear title would also be stressed in the entire exercise as in many cases, the title says “other rights” and that does not change for a long time.

Sometimes the revenue department forgets to change the status which makes the title ambiguous, officials said. The MIDC wants all these documents to come under one roof to avoid any confusion and disputes.

In the case of Eknath Khadse, who had to resign as revenue minister, MIDC’s claim on the plot was not reflected for nearly 40 years after acquisition. The MIDC had earmarked the plot for acquisition in 1968 with the state government having issued a final notification in 1971. However, the compensation was never disbursed. The second case was that of senior IPS officer Dhananjay Kamlakar and his son Rohit who were under fire after MIDC accused them of usurping a 76,400-sq m land in Pune’s Koregaon area.