How a top Gujarat builder, close to BJP, "illegally" became farmer to gobble up prime agricultural land

One of the resorts off Ahmedabad: Representative image

By Our Representative
In a typical case of how Gujarat’s real estate developers bypass existing laws to become farmers to quietly buy up prime agricultural land dirt cheap, a top builder, known to have developed sprawling residential townships, resorts and golf clubs off Ahmedabad for the rich and powerful, including politicians and bureaucrats, officially became the successor of an OBC farmer to illegally acquire real estate property.
On becoming a ‘farmer’, the builder, whose surname is Shah, and belongs to a dominant caste, bought up more than 70 hectares of land at 32 different locations at several prime locations of Ahmedabad district, between the proposed Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) and the new industrial hub of Sanand, which became famous after Tata Nano shifted from West Bengal to Gujarat.
Bringing the builder’s case in light on the basis of official documents, Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil told media in Ahmedabad, “Bypassing all laws, this builder, who happens to be close to top ruling BJP politicians, became the inheritor of a farmer, thus becoming ‘legally’ liable to buy up agricultural land without needing to pay any taxes, and all in cash.”
Claiming that the current price of different plots of land which this builder, known to be one of top organizers of Gujarat’s Vibrant Gujarat world business summits, bought up is around Rs 2,000 crore, Gohil said, he became a ‘farmer’ in 1997 by obtaining the hereditary certificate from the agriculturist, who belonged to Mehmedabad in Kheda district, situated about 20 km off Ahmedabad.
Documents handed over by Gohil show that the district collector, Kheda, had asked the district police chief in his letter dated March 20, 2015, to start criminal proceedings against the builder for coming up with false hereditary certificate of a farmer in order to buy up agricultural land.

Gohil

The district collector’s letter said, based on a complaint by one Samirsinh Chhatrasinh Vaghela, the district land vigilance committee has found that Devangbhai Dineshbhai’s name was inserted as the successor of Gagaji Jamaji’s land, Survey No 92, village Gokalpura, taluka Mehmedabad, by creating a false certificate of agriculturist.
An official inquiry document to prove how “forged” hereditary certificate was created shows that the surname of the farmer Parmar, and of the builder Shah, “was deliberately not jotted down.” Signed by the deputy collector, Kheda, it wondered, “How can a Shah be a successor of a Parmar?”
Earlier, on December 26, 2014, additional resident collector, Kheda, in a letter to mamlatdar, a taluka-level revenue official, said that the district land vigilance committee had used harsh words like “forgery” and “cheating” for creating false hereditary certificate for the builder. “A non-agriculturist, he has illegally became a farmer”, the letter said, seeking criminal proceedings against the builder.
Alleged Gohil, “Despite a clear case of forgery and cheating, even two decades later no FIR has been registered. I do not have any proof, yet I am sure, the police did not go ahead because of pressure from the ruling BJP leaders.”
Declaring that the Congress is putting forward the scam for public scrutiny, Gohil said, the BJP rulers’ “indifference” towards a clear case of forgery and cheating is shocking. “We call upon those interested to file public interest litigation (PIL) in this case. I, as Gujarat High Court advocate, will provide all necessary assistance”, he added.
Asked why he was not filing a PIL, he said, “Political parties, as a rule, do not file PILs."

Comments

Uma said…

....and they beat up Muslims for "usurping" land on which they pray...wah!

May 05, 2018

Vaccine nationalism? Covaxin isn't safe either, perhaps it's worse: Experts

By Rajiv Shah I was a little awestruck: The news had already spread that Astrazeneca – whose Indian variant Covishield was delivered to nearly 80% of Indian vaccine recipients during the Covid-19 era – has been withdrawn by the manufacturers following the admission by its UK pharma giant that its Covid-19 vector-based vaccine in “rare” instances cause TTS, or “thrombocytopenia thrombosis syndrome”, which lead to the blood to clump and form clots. The vaccine reportedly led to at least 81 deaths in the UK.

'Scientifically flawed': 22 examples of the failure of vaccine passports

By Vratesh Srivastava* Vaccine passports were introduced in late 2021 in a number of places across the world, with the primary objective of curtailing community spread and inducing "vaccine hesitant" people to get vaccinated, ostensibly to ensure herd immunity. The case for vaccine passports was scientifically flawed and ethically questionable.

'Misleading' ads: Are our celebrities and public figures acting responsibly?

By Deepika* It is imperative for celebrities and public figures to act responsibly while endorsing a consumer product, the Supreme Court said as it recently clamped down on misleading advertisements.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Magnetic, stunning, Protima Bedi 'exposed' malice of sexual repression in society

By Harsh Thakor* Protima Bedi was born to a baniya businessman and a Bengali mother as Protima Gupta in Delhi in 1949. Her father was a small-time trader, who was thrown out of his family for marrying a dark Bengali women. The theme of her early life was to rebel against traditional bondage. It was extraordinary how Protima underwent a metamorphosis from a conventional convent-educated girl into a freak. On October 12th was her 75th birthday; earlier this year, on August 18th it was her 25th death anniversary.

Palm oil industry deceptively using geenwashing to market products

By Athena* Corporate hypocrisy is a masterclass in manipulation that mostly remains undetected by consumers and citizens. Companies often boast about their environmental and social responsibilities. Yet their actions betray these promises, creating a chasm between their public image and the grim on-the-ground reality. This duplicity and severely erodes public trust and undermines the strong foundations of our society.

'Fake encounter': 12 Adivasis killed being dubbed Maoists, says FACAM

Counterview Desk The civil rights network* Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM), even as condemn what it has called "fake encounter" of 12 Adivasi villagers in Gangaloor, has taken strong exception to they being presented by the authorities as Maoists.

No compensation to family, reluctance to file FIR: Manual scavengers' death

By Arun Khote, Sanjeev Kumar* Recently, there have been four instances of horrifying deaths of sewer/septic tank workers in Uttar Pradesh. On 2 May, 2024, Shobran Yadav, 56, and his son Sushil Yadav, 28, died from suffocation while cleaning a sewer line in Lucknow’s Wazirganj area. In another incident on 3 May 2024, two workers Nooni Mandal, 36 and Kokan Mandal aka Tapan Mandal, 40 were killed while cleaning the septic tank in a house in Noida, Sector 26. The two workers were residents of Malda district of West Bengal and lived in the slum area of Noida Sector 9.

India 'not keen' on legally binding global treaty to reduce plastic production

By Rajiv Shah Even as offering lip-service to the United Nations Environment Agency (UNEA) for the need to curb plastic production, the Government of India appears reluctant in reducing the production of plastic. A senior participant at the UNEP’s fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), which took place in Ottawa in April last week, told a plastics pollution seminar that India, along with China and Russia, did not want any legally binding agreement for curbing plastic pollution.

Mired in controversy, India's polio jab programme 'led to suffering, misery'

By Vratesh Srivastava* Following the 1988 World Health Assembly declaration to eradicate polio by the year 2000, to which India was a signatory, India ran intensive pulse polio immunization campaigns since 1995. After 19 years, in 2014, polio was declared officially eradicated in India. India was formally acknowledged by WHO as being free of polio.

Counterview

Search This Blog