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CID starts probe into reserved forest land record alterations in Pune
Following the Supreme Court order on discrepancies of nearly 30 hectares found in the land records at Wanworie area of Pune, CID has initiated probe into land record alteration
Pune: Following the Supreme Court (SC) order on discrepancies of nearly 30 hectares found in the land records at Wanworie area of Pune district, the criminal investigation department (CID) has initiated a probe into land record alteration, officials privy to the matter said.
The petitioners stated that the Bombay Archives and other similar official documents about the reservation status revealed the difference of land demarcation.
The case came to light when members of the Richie Rich Cooperative Housing Society in Kondhwa area filed a petition in the apex court about the de-reservation status of 30 hectares estimated to be priced at ₹1,500 crore. During the hearing in May 2024, the SC asked CID to probe into the matter and also directed the forest department to hand over relevant documents to the investigation agency.
CID officer P Amrutkar refused to comment on the case citing that the “matter is confidential”.
The housing society members in their application had stated that the land notified as reserve forest was de-reserved without the knowledge of the forest department. They presented a copy of the Bombay Gazette about the change in land status and the apex court directed the forest department to submit its response.
During the hearing held in the last week of July, the forest department submitted its response stating that there is no such record of change in land status with them, and the department also verified it with a few other archives and it is not matching with the current claim made by the housing society members.
The forest department claimed that the said record of Bombay Gazette is suspicious. Meanwhile, a similar issue also came to notice about a change in the land status at Sonai village of Nevasa tehsil in Ahmednagar district.
Based on the report submitted by the forest department, the Supreme Court ordered a CID inquiry about the said Wanowrie land record.
“We direct the additional director general of state CID, Pune, to get an inquiry conducted into the matter through a senior level officer. The deputy conservator of forests, Pune, shall furnish the documents in question within two weeks,” SC bench of Justice BR Gavai and justice Sandeep Mehta stated in its order on May 15.
Mahadev Mohite, deputy conservator of forests, Pune said, “After knowing about the non-availability of information in our record about change in land status of the said property, our team got suspicious, and we have checked records with four other archives, including a national archive in Bhopal. After finding differences in the records from the Bombay Archives and other archives, we submitted the report to the Supreme Court in the last hearing held in July. Accordingly, the court has issued a CID inquiry. The housing society claims that the space is de-reserved as per the Mumbai archive, while our say is that it is a reserved forest area.”
The next hearing in the case has been scheduled on August 21.
Interestingly, when the forest department coordinated with its revenue counterpart about the details of the de-reservation of the said forest land, the latter could not find any record in the documents available to them. The forest department officials also got suspicious about the language used in the said record presented by the housing society members. Later, the forest officials checked the records with other archives, including national archives in Bhopal, Kolhapur, Delhi and Jaipur, but did not find any matching details with the Bombay Archives.
Significance
The Archival Repositories of Mumbai, Pune and Kolhapur are an important legacy of the past and a great national asset. They host authentic land records of over two to three centuries. However, the recent case has raised a serious question about the safety of these records as it is suspected that, in the said case, some papers got implanted in the original Gazette with Bombay Archives.
Archaeology directorate to verify land details
After receiving a complaint about the conflict over the land record in Bombay Archives, which comes under the Department of Cultural Affairs, the directorate of archaeology, also appointed a committee on July 1 to verify the Bombay Gazette dated March 21, 1935, and March 9, 1944. While the gazette in 1944 is about the land records of Pune, the other holds the detailed land record of Sonai village in Ahmednagar. The committee is expected to submit their report within three months and an order was issued in this regard by the department of tourism and cultural affairs.
Forest dept record
As per the forest department’s record, the said land was notified as a reserved forest in 1878. In 1902, it was transferred to the revenue department. The department in 1966 allotted the land to a person named Chavan for cultivation. Since then, due to the negligence of the forest department, the land got transferred to other people and currently, it is named as Richie Rich Society, in Kondhwa. Last year, the society proposed the construction of a multistorey building as a part of an expansion of the land. However, after finding out that the land is a reserve forest category, the forest department opposed the construction on this land.
