Maharasthra Opposition seeks resignation of Agriculture Minister Sattar over ‘illegal’ allocation of government land

Abdul Sattar was also accused by Leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar for exhorting officers in his Department for securing heavy contributions for an agriculture fair in his constituency

Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Opposition in Maharashtra, on December 26 demanded the resignation of State Agriculture Minister and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction leader Abdul Sattar over alleged allotment of a plot of government land to a private person in Washim district.

Leading the charge in the State Legislative Assembly, Leader of Opposition and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar produced a copy of the Bombay High Court’s (Nagpur Bench) strictures on Mr. Sattar’s decision of handing over 37 acres of bairan (grazing land) worth ₹150 crore to a man, Yogesh Khandale, despite Supreme Court orders prohibiting change of reservation on grazing land.

Mr. Pawar also cornered Mr. Sattar for allegedly exhorting his officers in the Agriculture Department to seek hefty contributions for the upcoming ‘Sillod Mahotsav’—an agricultural fair held at Sillod in Aurangabad, which is Mr. Sattar’s constituency.

Days before the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in June, Mr. Sattar, who was then Minister of State (MoS) for Revenue in the MVA, had ruled in favour of allotting the plot of grazing land in Washim district of Vidarbha to Mr. Khandale.

Later, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court held that Mr. Sattar had taken the decision to allot the land to Mr. Khandale in spite of the knowledge that the local court in Washim had not permitted Mr. Khandale’s claim over the gairan land.

“He [Mr. Sattar] has flagrantly misused his position despite being well aware of the strictures of the High Court and Supreme Court. This is a scam to the tune of ₹150 crore. The district court had dismissed Khandale’s claim to this plot of gairan land of 37 acres and 19 gunthas, while observing that Khandale had been trying to seize that parcel of land. Then, the Washim District Collector had written to the Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) about Sattar’s decision to allot the land to a private citizen. Yet, no action has been taken against the Minister’s decision by the ruling government,” said Mr. Pawar, while demanding Mr. Sattar’s immediate resignation from the State Cabinet.

While former Speaker and NCP leader Dilip Walse-Patil demanded that a criminal case be filed against Mr. Sattar, former Chief Minister and Congressman Prithviraj Chavan demanded Mr. Sattar’s dismissal from the Cabinet till the High Court gave him a clean chit.