State urged to set up commission to probe land grab

NOV 2: The state government has been urged to set up a commission to probe into past land agreements since it has been alleged that builders have illegally taken possession of thousands of hectares of land which belong to tribal communities, fishermen and poor landlords. This was made clear during a meeting held on November 1 by Flat Owners Association due to the increasing incidence of these complaints, where several affected parties were present.

While speaking on the occasion, M K Patil, administrative general of government of Maharashtra assured that individuals can approach his office with details of the properties by filing an application. He also stressed that in future his office shall take adequate steps to prevent grabbing cases.

Mahabaleshwar Morje, noted lawyer pointed out that several agreements or conveyances executed over 20 years back should be reopened as these agreements have been fradulently executed and several poor people has lost valuable property to builders community.

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He added that several complaints have been received from adivasis whose lands have been bought over by builders by bogus power of attorney and changed the title deeds in their favour.

In fact, this meeting has also been called as a fallout of a recent interim verdict issued by the Allahabad High Court where a petition of this sort has been directed to the Human Rights Commission and a separate commission set up to probe further.