Revenue Minister assures to call meeting to resolve Nazul lands issue
| Date :22-Dec-2022 |
Staff Reporter
Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Revenue Minister, assured the Legislative Council on Wednesday that a meeting would be called soon to resolve the issues pertaining to Nazul lands. Also, he said, directions will be issued to the officials concerned to stop recovering penalty if such penal action is being taken.
The Revenue Minister’s assurance came in response to a call attention motion by MLC Adv Abhijeet Wanjari. Pravin Datke, BJP MLC, and Ambadas Danve, Leader of Opposition, also participated in the discussion and raised related points. The minister’s assurance on stopping action of recovering penalty from lease-holders, comes as a relief to thousands of citizens in Nagpur and Amravati divisions of Maharashtra.
Adv Wanjari said that the lease rate of Nazul lands was touching the sky. Datke supported Adv Wanjari on the issue and demanded immediate intervention by the State Government to provide much-needed relief to the people. Adv Wanjari said that only Nagpur and Amravati divisions (Vidarbha region) had Nazul Act since the British era. The rates for regularisation, violation of conditions, unearned income for leave and licence for Nazul properties, transfer of lease, change of use were more than reasonable compared to market rates, he alleged. It has become difficult for users to pay such hefty charges. Nazul land users in Dhantoli area have received orders from the District Collector that their land will be seized over failure in renewal of lease. As a result, the land users are under panic, he said. He added that the land users were asked to pay Rs 2,000/- per sq ft fine for failing to complete the land renewal process.
Datke alleged that excessive penalty was being levied on the land users for delay in applying for renewal of lease. The rate of registration after lease renewal is excessive and the users are shelling out lakhs of rupees, he added. He demanded that the penalty for violation should be levied according to the rate on the date of construction. Alleging that there were discrepancies in policy regarding Nazul land, and sought conformity to provide relief to lease-holders.
In response, the Revenue Minister assured that the Government was positive towards resolving the issues relating to Nazul land. He assured to call a meeting with officials, public representatives, and lease-holders concerned before the end of the Winter Session. The Government is effecting several changes regarding Nazul land lease, he said. “Revised policy in this regard was announced in December 2015. Later, the policy was revised again in 2019 in response to representation received from the people and the rates were reduced to 1/5th of old rates,” he said, adding that, this affected the revenue of the State Government.
On many Nazul lands, residential apartments had come up and the users had not renewed the lease due to lack of unity among the land users, claimed Vikhe-Patil. He said that the residents in Dhantoli and Ramdaspeth areas of Nagpur city were not yet served the notices to pay Rs 2,000/- per sq ft fine despite delay in applying for lease renewal. Still, he added, if fine was recovered in some cases, directions will be issued to the officials concerned to not take action. While resolving the issues pertaining to Nazul lease, the Government will also make efforts to bring in new policy on Ready Reckoner, said the minister.