Pune: Even though Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar announced on Friday that his son Parth Pawar had cancelled the sale deed for the controversial Mundhwa land, the officiating joint sub-registrar has made it clear that Amadea Enterprises LLP, the firm linked to Parth, must pay ₹42 crore in stamp duty and penalty to execute the cancellation deed.
In a letter issued on Friday evening, officiating joint sub-registrar P. Fulaware asked Amadea partner Digvijay Patil to pay the “full stamp duty” before the cancellation deed could be registered. The letter also stated that Amadea has to also pay the previous stamp duty amount.
Amadea Enterprises — a firm jointly owned by Parth Pawar and his cousin Digvijay Patil — had executed a sale agreement on May 20, 2025, with power of attorney holder Sangita Tejwani for a 40-acre land parcel in Mundhwa, valued at ₹300 crore. The firm had paid just ₹500 as stamp duty after seeking an exemption of ₹21 crore, citing plans to set up a data centre on the site.
Following the controversy, Ajit Pawar announced that Parth had submitted documents to cancel the sale deed. However, Fulaware’s letter noted that the exemption no longer applies.
“Now that the cancellation deed has been submitted, the purpose of the data centre also stands scrapped. Therefore, in accordance with condition no. 6 of the said government notification, it is necessary to pay stamp duty and penalty at 5%, plus 1% cess each for local body and Metro rail, totalling 7% as per Section 25(b)(1) of the Maharashtra Stamp Act,” the letter stated. The letter also asked Amadea to pay previous dues with the District Collectorate.
{{/usCountry}}“Now that the cancellation deed has been submitted, the purpose of the data centre also stands scrapped. Therefore, in accordance with condition no. 6 of the said government notification, it is necessary to pay stamp duty and penalty at 5%, plus 1% cess each for local body and Metro rail, totalling 7% as per Section 25(b)(1) of the Maharashtra Stamp Act,” the letter stated. The letter also asked Amadea to pay previous dues with the District Collectorate.
{{/usCountry}}It also mentioned that in absence of stamp duty and dues, existing documents can not be executed.
A copy of the letter, reviewed by Hindustan Times, further clarified that the “deed will only be cancelled once the stamp duty is paid.”
A senior officer from the inspector general of registration (IGR) office said the cancellation will not be valid until the full duty and penalty are deposited. The letter, however, has not specified the penalty amount.
“The Letter of Intent proposed a data centre on the said land. However, during our scrutiny, it was clarified that an exception can not be given to such a proposal. Therefore Amadea has to pay ₹42 crores and the penalty of 1% for the cancellation of Deed,” said joint inspector general of stamps and registration, Rajendra Muthe.
The ₹300-crore deal, executed despite the land being Mahar Watan property, has already triggered a state-level inquiry. The land, located near Koregaon Park, belongs to the government and cannot be sold to a private entity, a senior official told HT.
On Friday, Ajit Pawar said, “The land deal has been cancelled. Not a single rupee has been paid as part of the deal, yet some people quoted big figures.”
“From the information now available, it is clear that this was only an agreement to buy land. No payment has been made by Parth (Pawar’s son), his company Amadea, or by any member of my family to the seller, and the land has not been taken into possession. Therefore, the transaction has not been completed,” the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader added.
Amadea’s wasn’t the first attempt to gain control of the prime land in Pune. At least three previous revenue ministers had rejected proposals from other individuals to get the land transferred in their names.
Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat said such a proposal had been placed before him three times during his stint as revenue minister in 2013 and 2019-20. “The people registered as holders of the ‘other rights’ in the property card had approached me. I rejected their claim in 2013 as it was government land and they had no interest vested in them as owners, as they claimed. They moved the Bombay High Court against my verdict. These people approached me again, in 2019, after the court directed me to take a call on the matter. I rejected the proposal again,” Thorat told HT.
The Mundhwa land parcel is Mahar Watan land, which is agricultural land historically allotted by the colonial British government in Maharashtra to the Mahar and Ramoshi communities in lieu of salaries for service to the village administration. The Mahar Watan system was abolished by the then Bombay state in 1958, transferring such land to government ownership.