Pune ULCRA scam highlights babu-builder nexus

Last week, yet another hearing on the land scam, this time in Pune, made news in regional media, with the Bombay High Court expressing serious concerns over the gravity of the offence. The case relates to bogus orders being passed under the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA 1976) to grab a land in the Wakad area in Pune.

The division bench of Justices BH Marlapalle and UD Salvi categorically said this (land irregularity) issue might be even bigger than the Adarsh housing society or the 2G spectrum cases.

According the HC bench, lakhs of square metres that could housed many a poor seemed to have been " freed" on the basis of bogus ULCRA orders and utilised for 'private use'. The court's response came after the judges went through the report submitted by the State panel led by retired IAS officer Sudhakar Joshi, who scrutinised 235 files in which bogus orders were passed.

According to the petitioner's lawyer, Ganesh Sovani, over 11,000 orders were passed under the now- repealed ULCRA between 1976 and 2005. Before the law was repealed, an individual could hold only 500 sq metres land and any excess area was declared surplus.

The PIL alleged that senior government officials had connived with builders and real-estate agents to grab the plots. The court was hearing a PIL filed by BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari who claimed that the CID inquiry into the land scam, which first came to light in 2005, had not yielded much results.

The regional media had highlighted the issue, with most making it their page one news. Maharashtra Times also carried an editorial highlighting the corruption, builder-politician nexus, while suggesting the CID was carrying out the much- needed probe under the HC’s observation.

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court directed the State government to strictly follow guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) restricting immersion of Ganesh idols made from Plaster of Paris (PoP) in water- bodies, last Tuesday. The directives came in connection with a petition filed by Maharashtra

Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, a panel for the eradication of superstitions. The court ordered that Ganesh idols be made using soil and natural colours while warning that criminal cases would be registered in case the law was not followed.

It was pointed out to the court that around 10 million families celebrate the festival across the State, with each submerging at least one idol of Ganesh weighing around 3 kg.

Chemical and plastic paints, golden and copper powders, oil paints and binders added hazardous chemicals such as carboxyl-methyl, methyl-celluloid, used as paint preservatives, to environment.