Sacked Beniwal faces Rs 1000 crore land grab charge now
9 Aug 2014 5:50 AM IST
In August 2012, activist Sanjay Agarwal had filed a land grab case against Beniwal and several other Congress leaders and builders. Even though the city court had issued notices to the accused in November 2012, Beniwal got away because of the immunity she enjoyed as governor under Article 361. The charges are being heard by a Metropolitan Magistrate in Jaipur.
According to reports, advocate Agarwal’s counsel Ajay Jain has said, ‘The city’s Vaishali Nagar police, which investigated the land grab case, found her (Beniwal) guilty, along with 16 others, and submitted a report to this effect before the trial court on 15 May (this year). The matter is listed for next hearing on 27 August. We will now plead to the court to name her as an accused and issue notice to her.’
Meanwhile, the Congress has already unleashed a campaign in favour of Beniwal. Pradesh Congress committee chief Sachin Pilot, said : ‘She has contributed to Rajasthan’s development as cabinet minister and as deputy chief minister in the past. As Gujarat governor, she appointed a Lokayukta to uphold the Constitution. The BJP-led union government has removed her as Mizoram governor on baseless charges due to political vendetta.’
However, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya in 2013 had highlighted these allegations against Beniwal in the run-up to the assembly elections. The matter pertains to 384 bigha (nearly 218.34 acres) of government land allotted to one Kisan Samuhik Krishi Sahkari Samiti Limited (farmers’ cooperative society) at a cost of Rs 25 per acre for collective farming at Jhotwara on the city’s outskirts in 1953.
According to reports, Beniwal, who entered politics in 1954 and went on to become the state’s first woman minister the same year, became a member of this cooperative society in 1970.
The society got the land on a 20-year-lease, which was later extended to 25 years. The lease, as such, expired in 1978 and, as per the agreement, the land’s ownership stood transferred to the state government. The government earmarked 221 bigha from the original 384 bigha for the Kardhani and Prithviraj Nagar residential schemes in October 1999. Since the land already stood transferred to the government in 1978, the society members had no right to claim compensation in lieu of the ‘land acquisition’.
Reports suggest that 15% of the ‘developed land’ (209 residential plots) was returned to the society members as compensation. It has been said in court that this was done to benefit Beniwal and the other influential members of the society. During this time Beniwal was revenue minister in the earlier Ashok Gehlot government (1998-2003).
According to reports, the society’s original members had been removed and other influential people had taken over its reins. They allegedly manipulated society rules to distribute the land among themselves. Each member is alleged to have received seven plots in compensation. Somaiya alleged that Beniwal and other members claimed to have worked on the land as ‘farm labourers’ working for 14 to 15 hours a day for 58 years to get hold of 209 plots of land as compensation.
On her part, Beniwal has denied any wrongdoing and claimed she had abided by the law in whatever she had done.
According to reports, advocate Agarwal’s counsel Ajay Jain has said, ‘The city’s Vaishali Nagar police, which investigated the land grab case, found her (Beniwal) guilty, along with 16 others, and submitted a report to this effect before the trial court on 15 May (this year). The matter is listed for next hearing on 27 August. We will now plead to the court to name her as an accused and issue notice to her.’
Meanwhile, the Congress has already unleashed a campaign in favour of Beniwal. Pradesh Congress committee chief Sachin Pilot, said : ‘She has contributed to Rajasthan’s development as cabinet minister and as deputy chief minister in the past. As Gujarat governor, she appointed a Lokayukta to uphold the Constitution. The BJP-led union government has removed her as Mizoram governor on baseless charges due to political vendetta.’
However, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya in 2013 had highlighted these allegations against Beniwal in the run-up to the assembly elections. The matter pertains to 384 bigha (nearly 218.34 acres) of government land allotted to one Kisan Samuhik Krishi Sahkari Samiti Limited (farmers’ cooperative society) at a cost of Rs 25 per acre for collective farming at Jhotwara on the city’s outskirts in 1953.
According to reports, Beniwal, who entered politics in 1954 and went on to become the state’s first woman minister the same year, became a member of this cooperative society in 1970.
The society got the land on a 20-year-lease, which was later extended to 25 years. The lease, as such, expired in 1978 and, as per the agreement, the land’s ownership stood transferred to the state government. The government earmarked 221 bigha from the original 384 bigha for the Kardhani and Prithviraj Nagar residential schemes in October 1999. Since the land already stood transferred to the government in 1978, the society members had no right to claim compensation in lieu of the ‘land acquisition’.
Reports suggest that 15% of the ‘developed land’ (209 residential plots) was returned to the society members as compensation. It has been said in court that this was done to benefit Beniwal and the other influential members of the society. During this time Beniwal was revenue minister in the earlier Ashok Gehlot government (1998-2003).
According to reports, the society’s original members had been removed and other influential people had taken over its reins. They allegedly manipulated society rules to distribute the land among themselves. Each member is alleged to have received seven plots in compensation. Somaiya alleged that Beniwal and other members claimed to have worked on the land as ‘farm labourers’ working for 14 to 15 hours a day for 58 years to get hold of 209 plots of land as compensation.
On her part, Beniwal has denied any wrongdoing and claimed she had abided by the law in whatever she had done.
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