Court seizes collector’s car

NASHIK, November 25: In a token gesture of wrath, the Nashik court seized the official cars of district collector Manoj Saunik and addition...

NASHIK, November 25: In a token gesture of wrath, the Nashik court seized the official cars of district collector Manoj Saunik and additional district collector Vilas Thakur on Monday for non-payment of land compensation as per court orders. The vehicles were released after assurances that the dues would be cleared within a month.

The collectorate had acquired 64,000 square metres of land at survey no 953 in 1976 on behalf of CIDCO.

The landowners were not satisfied with the compensation paid and had filed a suit demanding a higher price for the land. After a long-drawn legal battle, the court ordered a higher compensation.

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Three weeks ago, assistant district judge Ajit Mishra issued a warrant to impound the collector’s car, as CIDCO had failed to honour the court judgement, awarding a compensation of Rs 33 lakh. The landowner contacted officials of the CIDCO as well as the collectorate, but drew a blank.

On Monday, the collector’s official Ambassador car and a Premier car allotted to the additional collector were seized by the court. While the Ambassador was driven to the court in the adjacent compound, the Premier was towed away.

Collector Manoj Saunik, when contacted, said there was nothing unusual about the incident, as there were about 180 warrants issued on his car. He pointed out that since the collector acquired land on behalf of the government for various governmental agencies, any dispute finally resulted in the seizure of his car. He added that it was not the first time that a collector’s car had been impounded.

He said that the court had given enough time for payment of dues but there was some problem with CIDCO. He said that efforts would be made to clear the dues within the stipulated period.