Agri board told to return 121 acres

Pune: A civil court at Vadgaon Maval has ordered the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB) to return a 121-acre land that houses a hitech horticulture training centre and other facilities at Talegaon Dabhade off old Pune-Mumbai highway to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Pune.
The MSAMB had acquired the land on a lease of 99 years through an agreement with the Ashok Sahakari Samudayik Shetki Sangh, a farmers' cooperative, which was then under liquidation process.B B Apune, assistant registrar (cooperatives) of Vadgaon Maval, who was the official liquidator of the farmers' cooperative, and R M Karche, the then MD of MSAMB, were party to the lease agreement registered on January 14, 1992.
In 2003, the original land owners and member shareholders of the farmers' cooperative filed a civil suit for declaration of the lease agreement as null and void. They claimed that MSAMB violated a key condition in the agreement that required it to provide employment or income source to the member shareholders. They argued that another clause in the agreement provided that if any of the conditions is not fulfilled, then the lease agreement shall come to an end.
On February 29, joint civil judge (junior division) V A Godbole declared the lease agreement as null and void, but observed that the land cannot be returned to the shareholders as the farmers' cooperative had wound up.
Milind Akre, managing director of MSAMB, said, "We will exercise our legal option of moving an appeal against the judgment in the Pune district court."
In the court, MSAMB had argued that the plaintiffs had no locus standi as they were not a party to the lease agreement. It also argued that the suit was barred by limitation.
The court dismissed these arguments and held that the plaintiffs were entitled to claim the declaration that the agreement was null and void. However, the court stated that the land cannot be returned to the plaintiffs as the cooperative wound up and the title of the suit land was deposited with the Registrar of Cooperatives. The property must be returned to the Registrar of Cooperatives, the court said.