SIT to probe 60-year-old land deal of auto major

Officials said the land was transferred to Premier Automobiles in the early 1960s, when the company was seeking to expand its operations beyond its manufacturing facility in Kurla

Mumbai The Maharashtra revenue department has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the transfer of 174 acres of government-owned land reserved for grazing in Kalyan to Premier Automobiles Limited in the 1960s and its subsequent transactions. Headed by the Konkan divisional commissioner, the SIT will examine how the land was originally allotted to the automobile company and how portions of the parcel later changed hands, including through deals involving major real estate companies.

SIT to probe 60-year-old land deal of auto major

Officials said the land was transferred to Premier Automobiles in the early 1960s, when the company was seeking to expand its operations beyond its manufacturing facility in Kurla. Production of the company’s best-known model the Premier Padmini, ended in 1997. The automobile giant eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and subsequently began exploring ways to monetise its land holdings.

According to the order issued by the state revenue department on September 4, the SIT will probe the alleged irregular transfer, tenure conversion and mutation of several parcels of land. It has been given a month to complete the investigation, identify instances of irregularity or land grabbing, fix responsibility, and make recommendations.

The SIT will examine the original land records in Mangaon, Kole, Katai, Gharivali, Sandap and Usarghar villages in Kalyan and determine whether their transfer by gram panchayats to Premier Automobiles Ltd. and other developers/entities was legally valid, stated the order. “It has been directed to examine transactions involving entities including Lodha Developers, Anant Developers and Jupiter Lifeline Hospital, among others, under the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966, the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958, and other applicable laws,” the order states.

A key part of the probe will be the conversion of the lands from Occupancy Class-II to Class-I, which means obtaining ownership rights. The SIT has been directed to determine whether the lands were eligible for such conversion and whether the process followed government policy and provisions of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code. “It will specifically scrutinise the Thane district collector’s order issued on May 3, 2019, and verify whether unearned income or premium was correctly calculated,” the order noted.

The nine-member SIT includes the Thane District Collector, Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Commissioner, Thane Zilla Parishad chief executive officer (CEO), settlement commissioner and a representative of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).