Rane's gift of the grab

Rane's gift of the grab
Vinu Lal

May 10: It took just two sheets of paper to deflect the heavy artillery of the civic demolition squad which, with surgical precision, cut a neat path right around a 1,310 sq mt plot, much of it replete with illegal sheds at Santacruz (W) recently. Though the modus operandi is old hat for most encroachers, for Lawrence D'Souza the path from Khira Nagar led straight to the state Revenue Department.

D'Souza, who had encroached the 1,310 sq mt plot at Khira Nagar 15 years ago, has since managed to get 704 sq mt ``regularised' thanks to the good offices of former chief minister and revenue minister Narayan Rane. Moreover, the remaining 606 sq mt, which should have been surrendered to the government, is still in his possession including the garages where D'Souza had begun his career as a spray painter and motor mechanic.

The suburban district collector, which falls under the state Revenue Department, then headed by Rane, had issued a notice in March 1998, granting D'Souza 704 sq mt of the plot for Rs 66.8 lakh. Exactly a year later, the department cancelled its 1998 notice and issued a fresh one reducing the price to a throwaway to Rs 8.8 lakh. This was exactly two months after Rane was appointed as chief minister.

Both notices -- practically gift vouchers considering that the market value of the 704 sq mt plot is an estimated Rs 7 crore -- were issued without the collector's office publishing notices for auction in the newspapers, which is the standard procedure for the sale of government land. This, in effect, made the sale of the 704 sq mt illegal. Moreover, D'Souza's request for realignment of the ``regularised'' 704 sq mt with the roadside for better commercial utilisation was also granted vide an ``immediate action order'' of the Revenue Department dated April 13, 1998.

But that is not surprising, considering D'Souza's enterprising spirit. After working as a spray painter for a while, D'Souza began patronising encroachments which came up on the plot. Commercial establishments soon sprung up on the Khira Nagar plot, including a modern garage and sheds which he let out on ``rent''. Today, he is the proud ``owner'' of the plot, in a western suburb where property is much-coveted.

In yet another twist, the City Civil Court had observed in an interim order in 1994 that the plot in question was encroached upon and the government should recover the land from the encroachers. The case was filed by another encroacher when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started demolishing his illegal structures there. The BMC, the state government and Lawrence D'Souza have been named as respondents.

The last hearing took place on August 30, 1994, when the case was adjourned as representatives of neither the state government nor D'Souza were present in court. This means that the land allocation to D'Souza by the state Revenue Department was done while the matter was sub-judice.

Though D'Souza himself admits that he has 1,310 sq mt in his possession, his wife Diana throws down the gauntlet. ``I'll sue anyone who challenges my land details,'' she told Newsline.

Though Narayan Rane told Newsline that the Collector's Office has thenecessary records to prove that the remaining 606 sq mt of land was returned to the government, in reality the plot is still in D'Souza's possession, a fact that D'Souza himself admits.

``We have regularised several government land encroachments during my regime which can be used for development purposes and D'souza's case was also done in the same manner in accordance with land disposal rules. If anyone is aggrieved by that decision, they can move court and appeal against that decision. Moreover, that plot was acquired by him 20 years ago and if it was not granted to him, the area would have been heavily encroached. In fact, in this case, the government has gained by charging him,'' Rane says.