Ahmedabad, 24 December 2013

Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has seized the land encroached by Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal, by placing JDA signboard and a wired fence.

In 2012, a lower court in Jaipur had ordered a police inquiry into allegations of land grab by 18 people, among them Governor of Gujarat Kamla Beniwal, a veteran Congress politician who has been posted at the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar.

The court order followed deposition by five witnesses on record. The case is based on a complaint filed by activist Sanjay Agarwal who has accused Beniwal and 17 others of showing land belonging to the Government as their own. Rules were violated to allot this land to the beneficiaries.

The Jaipur lower court has instructed the police to investigate the alleged land grab by Beniwal and others.

In his petition, Agarwal has named 17 people as having benefited from “illegally grabbing Government land”. Agarwal has informed the court that Beniwal was also involved in the alleged land grab but since she is the Governor of Gujarat, a case could not be filed against her.

Recounting the facts of the matter, lawyer AK Jain says in 1951 the Rajasthan Government gave land for farming on a 20-year-lease. Later, the lease period was extended to 25 years. In 1953, Government allotted 218 acre to one Rajendra Singh and the Kisan Samoohik Krishi Sahkari Samiti Ltd at Jhotwara.

The lease on this land expired in 1978, that is, 25 years after its allotment, and as per the agreement, ownership of the land stood transferred to the Government. The Samiti’s original members were elbowed out and others took over; they also manipulated rules to distribute the land among themselves. One of the beneficiaries, according to the complainant, was Beniwal.

The complainant has alleged that the Government acquired 221 bighas from the original 218 acre for the Kardhani and Prithviraj Nagar plans on October 6, 1999. Since the land already stood transferred to the Government in 1978, the question of compensating anybody did not arise.

Yet, a compensation of 15 per cent of the ‘developed land’ in lieu of the land that had been acquired was provided for. It is alleged that this was done to benefit Beniwal and the other accused people.

The complaint has alleged that the alleged beneficiaries, including Beniwal, showed land belonging to the Government as their property. As a result, each of them got seven plots which was part of the Government land!