No more cheap land for politicians in Maharashtra; market prices only: Fadnavis

After the recent controversy which arose when BJP MP and actress Hema Malini was allotted a plot of prime real estate in Mumbai for a nominal sum, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has decided to scrap the rule that allows land allotments for cultural and educational purposes at concessional rates, reports The Economic Times.

The Government Resolution (GR) of 1984 permits leasing out land for cultural or educational purposes at 25 per cent of 1976 rates. Now the CM has asked for new rules to be prepared that could allot land at ready-reckoner rates (property rates set after government assessment).

"The earlier policy was flawed - levying 25 per cent of 1976 rates was too little, and so I have asked my officials to come up with a new policy," Fadnavis said.

Whether the new rules will affect the plot of land allotted to Hema Malini for Rs 70,000 is still a moot point. "It was a cabinet decision - that will have to be seen," he said.

Right to Information activist Anil Galgali had brought the case of Hema Malini to public notice when he wrote to Fadnavis on 1 February, saying that the 1984 GR was causing "huge losses to the government."

"If one goes by even a conservative estimate, the government has suffered losses worth at least Rs 50,000 crore due to such land being given at cheap rates to various trusts," said Galgali.

The GR had come into effect in 1984 after politicians demanded government land for their trusts at low rates. Earlier beneficiaries of this GR include former Congress chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and AR Antulay, Congress member Rajiv Shukla and the BJP's Gopinath Munde.