60 years after 174-acre govt land transfer, Maharashtra forms SIT to probe deals

Maharashtra has set up an SIT to examine the transfer of 174 acres of government grazing land in Kalyan to Premier Automobiles and later deals involving developers and public bodies. The enquiry will scrutinise land records, ownership changes and sale transactions over six decades, and submit findings within 30 days.

In Short

• The nine-member team is headed by the Konkan Divisional Commissioner
• It will verify land status, conversions, extracts, mutations and sales
• Premier received the land in the 1960s for Kalyan expansion

The Maharashtra revenue department has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the 1960s transfer of 174 acres of government-owned cattle grazing land in Thane’s Kalyan area to Premier Automobiles Ltd, and subsequent transactions involving several developers and other entities.

The SIT, headed by the Konkan Divisional Commissioner, will examine how the land was originally transferred to Premier and how portions of it were subsequently transferred to entities including Runwal, Lodha Developers, Sundarniwas Properties, Anant Developers, Out N Out Infotech and Jupiter Life Line, among others. The land was also transferred to public bodies and institutions, including Indian Railways and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board.

The order followed a meeting chaired by Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankhule on August 19, where the committee examined complaints about government-owned Gurcharan land in several villages of Kalyan taluka.

The nine-member SIT includes the Thane district collector, Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Commissioner, Thane Zilla Parishad CEO and a representative of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), among others.

The team has been given 30 days to examine five key aspects: the original status and transfer of the land; conversion of land parcels from Class II to Class I; the validity of 7/12 extracts and mutation entries; subsequent sale transactions to third parties; and whether action should be recommended against anyone found responsible.

The land was allotted to Premier Automobiles in the early 1960s when the company, which already had a manufacturing plant in Kurla, sought to expand its operations. Its Kalyan facility was used for sheet-metal stamping and as a feeder unit for the Kurla plant.

Premier Automobiles later ran into financial and labour troubles. After production of the iconic Premier Padmini stopped in 1997, the company launched the Rio, but the model failed to revive its fortunes. Premier eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and subsequently moved to monetise its land holdings.

Over the years, portions of the 174-acre parcel were acquired by multiple developers and other entities. Runwal's Horizon Projects owns 58 acres, Lodha has 52 acres, and Sundarniwas Developers has 41 acres. Indian Railways and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board have six acres each.

Other portions are occupied by a Zilla Parishad school, a public crematorium, the state water supply department, Sakharam Shet Vidyalaya, Jupiter Hospital and Out N Out Infotech.

The SIT's probe comes more than six decades after the original transfer of the government land. The order states that the team will conduct an in-depth scrutiny of documents and records of rights and submit a detailed report with its findings and recommendations within 30 days.

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