After Shinde, Sattar in the soup over land allotment

The Bombay HC has stayed the allotment by Sattar of a 35-acre government land in Washim district which he had allotted to a local resident during his tenure as revenue minister in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Mumbai: State agriculture minister Abdul Sattar has landed in a controversy again. This time, it is over a 35-acre government land in Washim district which he had allotted to a local resident during his tenure as revenue minister in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

File photo of Abdul Sattar, with chief minister Eknath Shinde (Facebook/AbdulSattarOfficial)

The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Friday ordered an interim stay on the allotment and directed Sattar and the revenue department to file their replies by January 11.

The development comes barely a week after the HC pulled up chief minister Eknath Shinde for giving away a piece of land in Nagpur to 16 people when he was the urban development minister in the previous regime.

Though the state has cancelled the allotment the opposition has demanded his resignation.

In a public interest litigation petition, Shyam Devale alleged that a couple of days before the collapse of the MVA government in June, Sattar ruled in favour of allotting 35.19 acres of grazing land in Vidarbha’s Washim district to one Yogesh Khandare.

Khandare approached Sattar after his claim on the government land was rejected by revenue officials and a local court. Sattar, who was an appellate authority as the revenue minister, had the final say in the matter, the petitioner said, calling the ruling illegal.

After examining the documents submitted by Devale, a bench of justice S B Shukre and justice M Chandwani said prima facie, there were irregularities in the land allotment and further, an order of civil court denying permission was not respected.

Despite several attempts, Sattar could not be contacted for his comments.

Divisional commissioner Dilip Pandharpatte said he is yet to receive a copy of the court order. “Once I get the copy, I will look into it.”

Devale said a government resolution of 2011 stipulates that grazing land cannot be allotted to a private person. “But while scrutinising the application of Khandare, Sattar ruled in his favour.”

Sattar, who was in Shiv Sena before defecting to the Shinde faction, is a man of many controversies.

The minister allegedly misbehaved with a senior staffer in the chief minister’s office for not clearing a file. In November, he kicked up a political storm after using abusive language on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and MP Supriya Sule.

Earlier, his two daughters’ names appeared in the list of candidates who had allegedly procured fake certificates showing they had cleared the Teacher Eligibility Test held on January 19, 2020.