Irregularities in leasing out govt land: Maharashtra PAC

Pointing to large-scale irregularities in the distribution and management of prime government plots leased to private parties, a Maharashtra legislature committee has called on the state government to reconsider this policy.

The report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was submitted to the state legislature on Friday by its chairman Gopaldas Agrawal (Congress).

It noted that the state government had chosen to gloss over violations by leaseholders like change of use, violations of terms and conditions, commercial use and creation of third-party interests in an arbitrary manner.

"After examining the cases of lands given on lease by the government, the committee detected large-scale breach of conditions. Though this amounts to cheating the government, this breach is regularized through recovery of fines.

This is the clear opinion of the committee that cases of cheating must be lodged against those concerned to prevent it," the PAC report said.

The state government and various local bodies have leased out 2,216 lands and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had examined 596 cases in a report in a performance audit submitted to the legislature in 2013. This report had detected breach of lease agreements on land granted by agencies like the state government and city and suburban collectorates to parties like the Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Sangh Ltd.