Times of India: Nagpur: Monday,
March 27, 2017.
Who guards the
guards? The answer is, apparently, no one. Government officers, who are
supposed to enforce the laws, are themselves flagrantly violating it with full
knowledge that their activities are illegal.
The Nagpur
bench of Bombay high court had recently cracked down on illegal use of urban
land ceiling (ULC) lands. Maharashtra Rashtrabhasha Sabha too was penalized for
making commercial use of land leased out by Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT). Now
it emerges that several institutions in the city are commercially exploiting
nazul lands given to them for charitable purposes.
Officers'
Club, whose members are senior state government officials, is illegally using
the land provided to it by the revenue department. The land located in plush
Civil Lines was given to provide sports facilities to its members. However, the
club management headed by the top IAS officer of the city - divisional
commissioner Anoop Kumar - rents out the lawns for marriages and other
functions and earns a profit. This commercial exploitation is against the lease
conditions.
Same is the
case with Ladies Club, which too is located in Civil Lines. Its balance sheet
of 2014-15 shows it earned an income of Rs 30.28 lakh by renting out the lawns.
The Nagpur
chapter of Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is also committing similar
irregularities. It was given the Swagat Lawns land, also located in Civil
Lines, for charitable purpose. The land is being used for marriage receptions
and permanent constructions have been made on it. There are likely many more
such lands which are illegally being exploited commercially.
These three
lawns are being offered at quite high rates. Swagat Lawns charges about Rs 600
per guest for lawns/halls, decoration and catering, for one day. Ladies Club
charges Rs 1.39 lakh while Officers' Club's basic rent is Rs 11,000 for the
hall and Rs 34,500 for the lawn. The customer has to use the Club's decorator
and caterer, whose charges are also quite high.
District
collector Sachin Kurve admitted commercial exploitation of these lands was
illegal and promised to take action. Divisional commissioner Kumar however,
claimed there was nothing illegal in it. He even charged TOI with misquoting
the collector.
Ramdaspeth
resident Anil Wadpalliwar had lodged a complaint against these illegal
activities way back in January 2013, with the then chief minister Prithviraj
Chavan. The CM office had forwarded the complaint to Nagpur district collector.
The assistant superintendent (revenue), Nagpur, had directed the sub-divisional
officer (SDO) of Nagpur on April 15, 2013, to conduct an enquiry in this
regard. However, nothing came of it.
"I tried
to find out the status of the enquiry but was always given vague answers. Then
I sought information about it through Right to Information (RTI) Act. In April
2016 I was told by the Nagpur naib tehsildar that no information was available
in this regard, which means that no enquiry had been conducted,"
Wadpalliwar told TOI.
The social
activist said that government should get a fair share of the profit earned by
these institutions. "If they are unable to run the clubs without
commercial exploitation of land then government should take back the
land," he said.
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