Land sharks grab govt land worth Rs 1,000 cr: SC panel

At least 16 Govt bungalows and about 30 acres of land worth over Rs. 1,000 crore in the heart of the capital have allegedly been grabbed by unscrupulous elements, a Supreme Court appointed committee has said.

At least 16 government bungalows and about 30 acres of land worth over Rs. 1,000 crore in the heart of the capital have allegedly been grabbed by unscrupulous elements, a Supreme Court appointed committee has said.

HT Image

Presenting the report to the court, senior counsel Ranjit Kumar, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae (friend of the court), said public properties near the Minto Road and Mata Sundari Road have been occupied by private persons who were running commercial activities with the connivance of officials.

After perusing the the report of the Monitoring Committee set up by the court to assist it in the sealing case, a bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat asked the Centre, Delhi Development Authority and Municipal Corporation of Delhi to respond to it.

The unauthorisedly occupied land was being used for running junk yard rickshaw garage, mineral water plants and a private School named Ram Jethmalani High School, Kumar told the court.

He, however, clarified that naming the school after Jethmalani was a case of name dropping and the noted lawyer had no connection whatsoever with the school.

As the bench remarked in a lighter vein that tomorrow somebody may come up with some school on an unauthorized piece of land in the name of a Supreme Court Judge, the courtroom burst into laughter.

Kumar said the encroached land was earmarked by the Delhi Government in 1996 for the expansion of LNJP, GB Pant and Lady Irwin hospitals.