Friday, March 10, 2017

Land issues of Gurugram, Faridabad and Nuh districts to be examined

CHANDIGARH, MARCH 10
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal said that  enquiry would be got conducted to look into all   land issues of Gurugram, Faridabad and  Nuh districts including that  of Gwal Pahari   in Gurugram.
          Mr Manohar Lal was intervening in the reply to the call attention motion of MLAs Mr. Karan Singh Dalal, Mrs. Kiran Choudhry, Mr. Anand Singh Dangi, Mr. Lalit Nagar, Mr. Jakhir Hussain and   four others, being given by Urban Local Bodies Minister, Mrs Kavita Jain, on the concluding day of Budget Session of Vidhan Sabha here today.
          The Chief Minister said that the issue of Gwal Pahari land, which relates to three decades old problem and involves property worth thousand crores of rupees, could be resolved with the intervention of Supreme Court. The Gwal Pahari land is a public property and would not be allowed to transfer into the hand of private parties adding that no decision has been taken for the change in mutation.
          He said that more than 526 sale purchases and mutations were made from the year 1992 to 2012. The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) developers ware given no encumbrance certificate and concurrences during   2005 to 2012. The orders of High Court pronounced in February 2014 allow the SEZ developers to get approvals and get these renewed during pendency of the title case. He said that as per the Rules of Business 1977, the government could exercise general superintendence and control on any department including Revenue Department and added that no decision was influenced. He said that the decision to refer the case to Collector was taken in pursuance to two orders from Government of India. Now, as it is left to quasi-judicial authorities and Courts to decide title, the Municipal Corporation Gurugram and the State Government would make all out efforts to protect its interest.
          The Chief Minister  said that in the year 1989, the then Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon, Mr Harbaksh Singh passed the first order on the Gwal Pahari land and since then the issue had been remanded several times in   quasi judicial courts. Now, by taking a historical decision, the present State Government has abolished the Remand Pratha so as to ensure that land-related disputes in the Revenue Courts could be settled at the earliest. Haryana is the first State in the country to implement this decision.  He said that this arrangement is among various other steps  taken by the government to bring about a positive change in the entire system, he added.
          Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister, Mrs. Kavita Jain  said that whether physically on the ground or as per the revenue record, neither the ownership nor the possession of any part of the Gwal Pahari land in Gurugram has changed during the calendar year 2016, what to talk of during 2017.
         Mrs. Jain said that although no details of the land in question have been specified, the reference is perhaps to the land recorded as 'Shamlat Deh Hasab Rasad Kabja Jamin' in Jamabandi 1939-40 of the revenue estate of the erstwhile village of Gwal Pahari, which was included in the Municipal Corporation, Gurugram on March 20, 2010.
        She said that as a matter of fact the question of title of this land has been under litigation since the early nineteen eighties. CWP No.3442 of 2014-Metro Valley Business Park Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Union of India and others, was disposed of by the High Court vide its final order dated February 24, 2014 with a direction to the Collector Gurugram to decide the pending proceedings within four months alongwith the direction to "the Collector as well as the District Administration to ensure that the parties concerned must maintain status-quo with regard to alienation and nature of the land till the dispute is resolved on merits. Meanwhile, if its SEZ licence expires, needless to say that the petitioner may seek renewal on the plea that the matter in dispute is still under consideration before the Revenue Court".
        She said that the State Government had recommended extension of two years and nine months in the implementation period of the SEZ on November 5, 2013. Based on this, the Government of India had extended the validity till May 5, 2014. Upon receipt of two communications addressed to the Haryana Chief Secretary, one dated August 4, 2014 from the Commerce Secretary and the other dated February 6, 2016 from Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion which also had enclosed with it a representation from M/s Metro Valley Business Park Pvt. Ltd., the matter was considered by the Government. It was decided to recommend extension in implementation period of the SEZ for a period of three years subject to furnishing of an appropriately worded legal undertaking to the effect that the company would comply with the orders of the Courts pertaining to the subject land and at their own risk and costs. Needless to say, the final authority to grant or to refuse extension in the time period rests with the Board of Approval of Government of India as per provisions of Rule 19 (4) of The SEZ Rules, 2006.
          Further, the aforesaid representation of M/s Metro Valley Business Park Pvt. Ltd. was forwarded to Deputy Commissioner, Gurugram for adjudication. His order dated January 2, 2017 which finds merit in the contention in the representation was appealed against by the Municipal Corporation, Gurugram in the Court of Commissioner, Gurugram Division who stayed it on January 30, 2017 and later set it aside on February 23, 2017.
          The Minister said that no mutation has been entered much less sanctioned, in this regard since December 18, 2015. The Municipal Corporation, Gurugram has neither suffered any loss, nor there has been any change in the status of ownership, possession and nature of the land. Any suggestion of any transfer of any land of the Corporation to any private person or of any illegality or of any scam in this matter is clearly baseless and wrong. The Municipal Corporation, Gurugram is taking and would continue to take all necessary steps to protect its interests in all its lands.
===balbirsingh227@gmail.com

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