Bombay HC judge gets ULC notice

Justice JN Patel’s family has sold land in Nagpur worth Rs105 crore to realty firm

MUMBAI/NAGPUR: The Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) authorities have issued a show cause notice to Justice JN Patel, a senior judge of the Bombay high court, and his family members for allegedly not filing a return of their land situated at Mouza Chinchbhuvan on the outskirts of Nagpur.

Under the notice issued by US Dahalkar, additional collector and competent authority of the Nagpur ULC, the Patel family was asked to submit land documents and returns under section 6 (1) of the ULC Act by August 13, 2007. The notice said failure to do so would result in legal action under sections 5 (3) and 38 (4) of the Act. Under this section, the agreement for sale would be held null and void and the owners — in this case, the Patel family — could face prosecution.

When DNA contacted Dahalkar on Thursday, he confirmed the details: “We issued the notice because we found violation of the law. Our first notice, issued on May 14, was unanswered.”

The Patel family sold 41.14 acres of ancestral land to Nikhil Chaturvedi and his realty firm — Hagwood Commercial Developers Private ltd, a subsidiary of Provogue — for Rs105 crore, or Rs2.55 crore per acre. The sale agreement was registered on April 26, 2007, and the purchaser handed over a cheque of Rs90 crore and furnished an irrevocable bank guarantee for the balance Rs15 crore.

Subsequently, the land owners sought permission from the ULC authorities on May 9, 2007, to sell their land. The letter, submitted two weeks after the sale agreement was registered, mentioned that Justice Jai Narayan Patel owned 6.34 hectares while his brother Shri Narayan Patel owned  6.15 hectares and Hari Narayan Patel 4.16 hectares (one hectare = 2.47 acres).

After receiving this letter, the ULC office issued a letter to the Patel family on May 14 making it clear that the provisions of the ULC Act were applicable to the said land as it was a part of the Nagpur urban agglomerate. Hence, it was necessary to submit details of the said land under ULC. Till 2001, the land was shown as a No Development Zone (agriculture), but as per the Development Control Rules (DCR), a part of the land was reserved for the railways, parking, and roads. Hence, it became mandatory to submit returns under section 6(1) of the ULC Act.

According to highly-placed sources, notices were issued to Jai Narayan Patel, Shri Narayan Patel and Hari Narayan Patel on #August 6, 2007. Since the Patels did not reply to the letter dated May 14, 2007, another notice was issued asking the family to file returns under section 6 (1) of the ULC Act. Sources said that under the Act, no person could hold vacant land of more than 1,500 square metres, which is the ceiling.

The reminder sent by ULC mentioned that since the family possessed more than 1,500 sq metres of land (Khasra Numbers 25, 29 and 30 of Mouza Chinchbhuvan), it would be necessary to determine surplus land under the ULC Act. This, in turn, would be determined on the basis of the return filed under section 6(1) of the ULC Act, it added.

The notice said that the land could not be transferred or sold to anybody without the ULC authorities’ permission.

Sources said that once the return was received from the Patel family, the ULC office would determine the surplus land. Within two months of this, the family would have to apply for exemption by proposing some housing scheme on it. Under Section 21 of the Act, the office could give permission for the scheme if low-cost housing flats would be constructed and 5% of such flats were given free of cost to the state government.

Jail term & fine
There is a provision under section 38 (4) of the ULC Act which states that if any person contravenes any of the provisions of the Act for which no penalty has been expressly provided for, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may be extend to two years or with fine, which may be extend to Rs 5,000, or with both.