Senior IAS officer Shakuntala Gamlin has complained to Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung accusing Industries Minister Satyendra Jain of pressuring her over conversion of industrial plots from leasehold to freehold. Ms. Gamlin’s appointment as Acting Chief Secretary had turned into a controversy with the Aam Aadmi Party government entering into a turf war with L-G.
In her letter, the Principal Secretary (Power and Industries) has alleged that despite land not falling under the Delhi government, the Minister pressured her to submit a note for the Council of Ministers, proposing conversion of industrial land from leasehold to freehold.
In his response to the allegations, Mr. Jain told a TV news agency that he had “asked Ms. Gamlin to study industrial areas in Delhi and submit a proposal as to how these could be made freehold”.
“I fail to understand. If we ask our officers to do some work, is it same as pressurising them? And Ms. Gamlin should have addressed that letter to me instead of the L-G,” said Mr. Jain, who is also the Power and Home Minister.
Officials said there are 18 industry clusters across the city, that are home to nearly 20,000 industrial plots. Though the Delhi government is in charge of maintenance of some of these clusters, the Delhi Development Authority, which is headed by the L-G, owns them.
Officials said some industrial plots were converted around a decade back by the DDA. Conversion of any property into freehold, in lieu of a conversion charge, makes the leaseholder owner of the plot, that multiplies its worth manifold.
In her letter, Ms. Gamlin has added: “Due to oversight or otherwise, some conversion of industrial plots had been ordered in Delhi without the involvement of land owning agency DDA and the matter is said to be under scrutiny of the Delhi Government Vigilance Department.”
“Despite these facts having been brought to the knowledge of the Minister, he kept pressing for a note for the Council of Ministers on the subject, and expressed his annoyance on several occasions in this regard,” she charged.
The senior officer also said that as per rules, the city government is in no way involved in the administration of land except through the L-G, who acts in these matters on the advice of DDA in his capacity as its chairman.
