The Maharashtra Assembly was adjourned for the day on Monday after the opposition stalled the proceedings over the demand for Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar’s resignation over a land ‘regularisation’ order passed by him when he was a minister in the previous state government.
Members of the opposition parties trooped into the Well of the House, raised slogans, disrupted the proceedings and sought Sattar’s resignation alleging irregularities in ordering ‘regularisation’ of the possession of land reserved for grazing in favour of a private person.
Sattar had passed the order in June 2022 when he was the Minister of State for Revenue in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ajit Pawar alleged there were irregularities worth Rs 150 crore and Sattar’s land regularisation order was in clear violation of a court order.
“The minister misused the post. He should immediately resign. If he doesn’t resign, then he should be sacked,” Pawar said.
The House was adjourned twice over the issue after an uproar from the opposition members. Finally, at around 2 pm, the House was adjourned for the day.
The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court last week issued a notice to Sattar for ordering ‘regularisation’ of the possession of land reserved for public ‘gairan’ (grazing) in favour of a private person in the face of a civil court order.
As per the petition filed by social activist Shyam Deole and another person, a public utility land meant for grazing measuring 37 acres was ‘regularised’ in favour of a private person. This was done even after the claim of this private person had been rejected by the civil appellate court, said the petitioner.
The HC held that prima facie (on the face of it) Sattar passed the order with knowledge that additional district judge, Washim, had disallowed the claim of the private person for continuation of his possession over gairan land.
The Washim court had even passed stinging remarks that said private person was certainly out to usurp the government land, the HC noted. The high court will hear the matter further on January 11, 2023.
