JAMMU : The judgement of acting Chief Justice, Rajesh Bindal led Division Bench of Calcutta High Court to quash allotment of plot by the West Bengal government to former acclaimed cricketer of India, Sourav Ganguly has brought in limelight the blatant misuse of authority by the Board of Directors of Jammu Development Authority by throwing to winds the process of law while favoring well known regional Theater Director Balwant Thakur with allotment of 4.37 and subsequently another 6.3 Kanals prime JDA land worth 30 crores free of cost.
Both the beneficiaries are Padam Shree awardees. For construction of world class cricket institution, the BCCI Chief Sourav Ganguly owned Ganguly Education and Welfare Society was allotted 2.5 acre land in 2011at New Town area of Kolkotta city by the Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation with 50 % concession.
In case of Balwant Thakur, the then Deputy Chief Minister in BJP-PDP led coalition government in erstwhile J&K state, Prof. Nirmal Singh following the footsteps of past NC-Cong regimes had approved allotment of prime land free of cost in his capacity as Chairman of BoDs of JDA in its 74th meeting.
The judgement in case of Ganguly is an eye opener and the LG Manoj Sinha led administration in UT of J&K while adding some real meaning to its agenda of ‘Good Governance’ must cancel the land allotted to Natrang Group in most arbitrary manner without adopting due course of law, procedures and norms, avers prominent lawyer and PIL activist, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad.
The way and manner authorities in JDA allotted 6.3 kanals land free of cost to Jammu based Balwant Thakur’s Natrang Society only shows that later was dictating his terms to the BoDs of JDA as well as government in deciding land allotment viz a viz its location first at Deeli in Marble market then at heart of city in Channi Rama.
Interestingly, the BoDs of JDA in its 74th meeting held on June 6, 2015 approved allotment of 4.37 kanal land at village Deeli to Natrang Group for construction of “world class Cultural Center” only after Thakur visited the identified land and accorded his assent.The MoU between the JDA and Natrang was signed on 20/07/2015.
However, instead of constructing the building for “promotion of Art and Culture”, the Director Natrang Group, Balwant Thakur in a twist of events 3 years post execution of MoU dashed a letter NJ/6271/18 dated 12/11/2018 to JDA demanding allotment of land at Channi Rama in lieu of earlier allotted land at Deeli. Promptly, the BoDs of JDA again reportedly allotted 6.3 kanal land falling under Khasra No 90 min 9(New) at Revenue Village Channi Rama without any reference to cancellation of earlier piece of land allotted at Deeli.
Terming this entire exercise as an act of high level of favoritism and nepotism, Advocate Ahmad said ” JDA’s BoDs headed by the then Dy CM Nirmal Singh with closed eyes had allotted prime land worth crores as if it was not a State land property but a private limited company which was allowed to deal with its property, as per its own whims and fancies sans due process of law”.
Asserting that If the government really desired to establish a center for promotion of art and culture, then instead of choosing only one let the government seek proposal from everyone with exemplary contribution in the relevant field and allot land only in accordance with the law and laid down procedures, Advocate Ahmad further said ” Everyone is equal before law and it have no provision for extending special treatment to high and mighty considering them as exclusive and above law”
JK Global News view point: Constitution of India is sacrosanct which guarantees every citizen equality before law. The judgement of Calcutta High Court in case of Ganguly is equally applicable to Balwant Thakur who was allotted land worth crores free of cost in utter disrespect to process of law. Perusal of the minutes of JDA’s BoD meeting clearly shows that Dy CM Prof. Nirmal Singh in his capacity as Chairman of JDA allotted prime piece of land in total violation of rules, regulations and policies considering it as his own Private Limited Company. There is no denying the fact that Thakur’s Natrang Group has contributed immensely at National and International level for art and culture and brought laurels to the state and country. So are other artists and groups in J&K. But, this achievement is no way made him eligible for favor from government. Thakur, if seriously desirous of promoting the cause of Art and Culture in J&K, he can do so by utilizing the existing Abhinav Theater and white elephant -Kala Kendra located at Bikram Chowk instead of gunning and running for favor for allotment of public land worth crores free of cost for construction of gigantic theater building in residential area. Cleaning the mess strewn around everywhere by the previous regimes, the LG Manoj Sinha also need to cancel this controversial allotment to prove that the Union Territory administration post abrogation of article 370 is not biased against those owns allegiance to NC, Cong and PDP and it purely runs on transparency.