Hearing in Rani Mukherjee's case

MUMBAI: In a reprieve to Bollywood actor Rani Mukherjee, the Bombay High Court's Aurangabad Bench has extended the status quo in the Shirdi land deal till June 17, when the matter will come up for further hearing.

Rani had moved the court in April challenging the Ahmednagar District Collector's order cancelling her ownership of a plot near Shirdi, a temple town in Western Maharashtra, due to irregularities in the deal.

"There are several discrepancies in the order passed by the District Collector. We disagree on several observations made in the order," Rani's lawyer Nanasaheb Chaudhary said.

In January this year, the Sub-Divisional Officer passed an order cancelling the multi-million land sale deal, and took possession of Mukherjee's land.

In December 2005, the actress had paid Rs 33 lakh for the non-transferable land and paid a stamp duty of Rs 1.32 lakh for registration. The land title, however, could not be transferred to her name as it belonged to a farmer.

According to the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, the plot in question was an agricultural land and thus it required special permission from the government to transfer it to a non-farmer.

According to Chaudhary, only the Divisional Commissioner is empowered to conduct an inquiry into such cases.