Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and his nephew and former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar have come under the scanner for allegedly transferring around 73 acres of government land to their educational trust by violating laws and causing financial loss to the State exchequer.
As per information received under the Right to Information Act, the said land at Karhati village in Pune district was given to Krishi Udyog Mul Shikshan Sanstha in 1980. After Mr. Ajit Pawar became the president of the said Trust in 2006, the plot was transferred to the Vidya Pratishthan, which is headed by Mr. Sharad Pawar, in 2009.
“After I filed applications under RTI, it was revealed that this transfer was not permissible without the Charity Commissioner’s nod,” said Ravindra Barhate, an RTI activist from Pune. Interestingly, the Charity Commissioner’s reply under RTI says that no such permission was given.
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As per the Supreme Court order, any transfer of government land has to be done through auction. However, no such process was held, causing loss to the State, show replies to RTI applications.
“Despite my repeated appeals to Chief Minister, he has refused to take note of this scam,” said Mr. Barhate, adding that he would file a criminal writ petition in the Bombay High Court in which the Pawar family and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is the Home Minister as well, would be made respondents.
Pratishtan’s statementADVERTISEMENT
According to a statement issued by Vidya Pratishthan, all legal and government processes were followed while transferring the land. “The process of taking the Charity Commissioner’s permission is in progress,” said the statement.
When contacted again, Mr. Barhate claimed that the statement confirmed the allegations. “How is it that the land documents have Pratishthan’s name mentioned if the process is still on? The statement just confirms that land was transferred without following legal procedure,” he said.