The Hindu : PM's help sought in land grab case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 02, 2003

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PM's help sought in land grab case

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MAY 1. The Deputy Speaker of Delhi Assembly, Kiran Chaudhary, has accused the Delhi BJP leader and former MLA, Karan Singh Tanwar, of grabbing Army land in the Naraina area of Delhi Cantonment. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, she has also accused the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, and the Minister of State for Defence, Chaman Lal Gupta, of "giving protection to such land grabbers by even overlooking court orders".

In her letter to Mr. Vajpayee, the Deputy Speaker, who also represents the Delhi Cantonment constituency, has pointed out that even the original owner of the said land -- Ram Kishan -- has given an affidavit saying he never sold this land to BJP leaders and the same was acquired by the Army in 1977 for building staff quarters. "I have a strong inclination that these encroachers have involved the Defence Minister and the Minister of State for Defence in this whole shoddy affair by giving misleading information and placing wrong facts before them. The said encroachers have used the names of Mr. Fernandes and Mr. Gupta to stall the whole exercise of recovering government land,'' she has pointed out.

Addressing a Press conference here, she said the proceedings initiated by the Army authorities under the Public Premises Eviction Act had been stalled after an arbitrary order was issued by Mr. Gupta asking the Cantonment Board authorities not to take any action till a final word is given by the Department. She said even the Additional Solicitor General, R.N. Trivedi, had given an opinion that the eviction proceedings were correct and should be undertaken on merit of the case. But Mr. Tanwar by giving false documents and mis-representing facts had indulged in contempt of court, she charged. "The orders issued by the Minister of State for Defence have tied the hands of the Army authorities who are neither able to carry out the eviction proceedings nor file a contempt of court plea before the designated court,'' she added.

Ms. Chaudhary said she has urged the Prime Minister to initiate an inquiry into the whole thing and take a decision on the merits of the case keeping in mind the directions of the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court. It would be unfortunate that such encroachers, who are sitting on Government land for almost 25 years, are allowed to go scotfree and that also with the protection of the Defence Minister and his deputy, he said.

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