Bombay high court calls for records of Narayan Rane’s ‘tainted’ land

The Bombay high court on Monday asked the state government to produce land records pertaining to the alleged illegal sale of temple trust land in Mahabaleshwar to Nilima Rane, wife of industries minister Narayan Rane.

A division bench of Justice VC Daga and Justice RG Ketkar was hearing a PIL filed by Shri-kshetra Mahabaleshwar Devasthan Trust.

It contended that the half-acre plot, which was allegedly sold to the minister’s wife, had been Inam land since the rule of King Shivaji 400 years ago.

The trust stated that about 2 acres (76 gunthas) of land was transferred in 2008 to Vasai resident Mahesh Panchal, who sold half an acre of it to Rane’s wife. The trust was not issued a notice in either transaction, it said.

The petition stated that in 2009, the trust learnt that a mutation entry was effected on June 9, 2008, in the record of rights. It stated that the land, survey number 109, was transferred in the name of Panchal.

The petition states that PS Kamble, a desk-officer of the state revenue department, had passed an order on March 25, 2008, directing the collector to delete the land from the list of Inam lands belonging to the trust.

Last week, the state government offered to withdraw Kamble’s order, hear the trust afresh and pass an order. However, the advocates for the trust told the court that it was necessary to scrutinise the documents to examine whether the transfer of land was legal. The trust also alleged that the order was passed by the desk officer “under dictate” to favour Rane’s wife and was therefore malafide.