Maharashtra Lokayukta Calls For Report Over Alleged Illegal Allotment Of Land Parcel To BJP State Chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule

The Lokayukta of Maharashtra recently took cognisance of a complaint lodged against the allocation of 5 hectares of land parcel in Nagpur to Shri Mahalakshmi Jagdamba Sansthan, a trust headed by Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the State Chief of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The land has been allocated for constructing a nursing college, a junior college, science-arts- commerce college, and skill development centres, in pursuance of the application filed by the Trust in November last year for 'direct allotment' of the land.

The office of the Lokayukta Justice (retd.) Vidyasagar Kanade, by a letter dated November 7, 2024, informed the complainant Kisan Chaudhari, that the Lokayukta has considered his plaint and has ordered the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Revenue and also the Collector of Nagpur to submit the detailed report regarding the land allotment by January 3, 2025.

The order by Justice Kanade for calling the reports was passed on October 24.

According to Chaudhari, who is a lawyer by profession, he learnt about the allotment of the land to the Trust headed by Bawankule through a news report published in a leading national daily newspaper, which stated that the land parcel at Koradi area in Nagpur was handed over to Trust despite objections by the Finance and also the Revenue Departments of the State. 

Notably, the land was allocated to the Trust as per the State government's Ready Reckoner (RR) rate at Rs 4.8 crore.

The complainant citing the news report, claimed that the proposal to allocate the land parcel to Bawankule's Trust was placed before the State Cabinet meeting 'suddenly' without it being on the day's agenda.

"According to the finance department, the Trust is neither a renowned institution, nor has a 'long experience' in the field of higher education, hence, it did not qualify for allotment. Despite the negative report from the various government departments and authorities the land was allotted to Shri Mahalakshmi Jagdamba Sansthan without following the due procedure in law," the complaint states.

The complainant further contended that the land in question could have been sold to the most efficient institutions through 'public auction' by inviting applications from public and the government would have got more money by way of auction.

"However, rules were flouted and the land was allotted to the Trust headed by the sitting MLA Bawankule," the plaint states.

The plaint further states that the government has not yet published or uploaded the said decision on its official site.

Click Here To Read/Download Order