Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare on Thursday faced allegations of land grab once again, days after a newspaper reported of huge land holdings owned by him and his family.
MLC Jayant Patil of Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) on Thursday alleged that Mr. Tatkare, his family members and close aides had cornered around 7,500 acres of farmland in Raigad district by creating a host of companies which then purchased land.
‘Whereof the capital?’
Information accessed from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website and given to the media by Mr. Patil shows that Mr. Tatkare's son Aniket Tatkare is the director of 25 companies.
His daughter Aditi Tatkare is the director of 13 companies and his daughter-in-law Vedanti Tatkare is the director of 15 companies. A host of other companies, Mr. Patil claimed, were owned by persons linked to the minister.
“Where did the capital for these companies come from? Mr. Tatkare has grabbed land from farmers in the constituency from where he was elected. This is a ruthless move to make farmers landless,” Mr. Patil alleged.
He said the number of companies, belonging to Mr. Tatkare's kin and close aides, was 193 so far. “The addresses of around 140 companies are in just three locations in Mumbai. There are 699 land titles with these companies and collectively their assets could be around Rs. 500 crore,” Mr. Patil said.
Mr. Patil alleged that the idea behind forming a large number of companies was to bypass the ceiling on ownership of agricultural land.
Alleging violations under Revenue laws and Money Laundering Act, he demanded a probe in the matter. He said he had written to the government to that effect.
‘Baseless’
Asked to comment, Mr. Tatkare refuted the allegations as baseless. “To say that there are 193 companies is incorrect. There are around 10 or 12 companies,” Mr. Tatkare told The Hindu on the phone.
He said he was thinking of filing a defamation suit against Mr. Patil for his allegations and would be seeking a legal opinion on it.
“We will do what is possible legally. We will take legal action,” he said. As for his son's ownership of companies, Mr. Tatkare said his son did own land and ran his own businesses.
