NOC for land near IAF base cancelled

Times of India: Jaipur: Wednesday, April 03, 2013.

In what may well be the whiff of a scam, the defence estates office has withdrawn the green signal for construction of a private housing scheme near the Jodhpur Air Force Station on finding that jurisdiction was ignored during grant of clearance.

Documents accessed by an activist under the right to information (RTI) Act had revealed that the defence estate office has cancelled the 'no objection certificate' issued on July 5, 2008 for the private housing scheme.

The activist, Ram Singh alleged that the NOC was granted in violation of defence laws and compromised national security.

Official documents provided under RTI show that the then defence estates officer at Jodhpur, Sunil Kumar Sharma, issued the NOC without even having the authority to do so. The NOC had paved the way for developing the housing colony on approximately 260-bigha land adjacent to the Jodhpur Air Force Station. The land is worth around Rs 800 to 900 crore. As per the rules, it is mandatory to obtain defence clearance for utilization of land adjacent to military stations as defined by the Work Defence Act, 1903. The Act says that land up to 900 metres from a defence station's perimeter will be a 'no uses and utilization zone', which means that not only construction but also plantation is barred on such land.

A TOI news report 'Colonies sprawl up in restricted area' published on October 4, 2012, let to an internal inquiry into the matter. "The inquiry found that Sharma overreached his jurisdiction to benefit the private developer," said Singh.

Sharma's successor Kausal Gautam issued another letter on December 14, 2012 to the Jodhpur Development Authority ( JDA) that read: "On July 5, 2008, a NOC letter was issued from the estate office on the layout plan of a private housing scheme falling under the khasra numbers 4/36 to 4/47. However, the office is not authorized to issue such 'NOC', hence the 'NOC' issued earlier is cancelled." Official documents show that on June 23, 2008, the Urban Improvement Trust (UIT), Jodhpur, wrote a letter to the defence estate officer for the 'NOC'. In response, Sharma wrote back (on July 5, 2008): "After receiving a letter (from UIT), a team was constituted and measurement of 100 metres to 900 metres was done to identify the restricted and no construction area. The layout plan of the colony falls out of the restricted and no construction area, hence, we grant permission to the housing scheme."

Singh told TOI, "It is clear that norms were violated to benefit the private developer. It is high time we get the matter probed by CBI to expose the scam.

For his role in exposing the violation by the defence estate office, Singh has been receiving threats. "I am getting death threats from unidentified callers as high-profile people are involved in this defence land scam."

Meanwhile, Jodhpur development commissioner Ratan Lahoti said, "It will be ensured that no construction takes place within 900 metres from the perimeter of the gate."

IAF objection:

The Air Force in its letter dated July 11 had opposed the construction of a wall outside the boundary adjacent to the crash gate on the land. The Air Force letter reads, "The construction has blocked the exit towards the crash gates and any development of garden will increase the bird activity posing hazard to aircraft."