In its last three years,previous BJP regime granted permission to 881 individuals,societies to buy land. Congress president Sonia Gandhis daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,Supreme Court lawyer and Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan are among 881 outsiders who were granted relaxation to buy land during the last three years of BJP regime in Himachal Pradesh,Revenue Minister Kaul Singh said Monday. Three private universities and dozens of religious trusts were also allowed to buy land in the hill state,where otherwise,the rules bar any outsider from acquiring landed property. In a 117-page reply in the Assembly,Thakur presented a list of names of individuals,organisations and institutions alongwith other details about permissions granted by the Prem Kumar Dhumal led government between 2010 to 2012 to purchase land in the state. The list includes a large number of outsiders and non-agriculturist Himachalis. Under HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act 1971,no outsider or non-agriculturist is allowed to buy land in any part of the state except with permission of the government under section 118. The BJP government had been facing accusations of ordering largescale land purchases by granting relaxations under section 118. As per the reply,Priyanka tops the list. She was granted permission in 2011 to purchase 922 sqm of land in addition to the three-and-a-half bigha that she had bought during the 2006-2007 BJP for construction of a cottage in high security zone of Charrabra,close to Presidents Summer Retreat,13 km from Shimla. The BJP government allowed her to buy the additional land near the plot she already owned. Similarly,supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushans Kumud Bhushan Educational Society was allowed to purchase 4.68 hectare land near Palampur town in Kangra district in 2010. The land,was basically,a tea estate. The Congress government launched a probe into land bought by Bhushans society. As per laws,land-use of a tea garden cannot be changed as these are exempted under the ceiling act. In another such case,Bahara Education and Charitable Society,which has set up a private university at Vakhaghat on Shimla-Kalka National highway,was allowed to buy 120 bighas of land. The issue was raised in the House by Congress MLA Rohit Thakur who was supported by Himachal Lokhit Partys Maheshwar Singh,former BJP minister Mohinder Singh. As per the written reply submitted by Thakur,the maximum number of permissions,61,pertained to Shimla district,followed by 47 in Hamirpur. Thakur,meanwhile,said,that all the cases tabled in the House were not cases of land violations but few of these including one related to Prashant Bhushan are under scanner Deputy Commissioner,Kangra,has been asked to send a report to the government on this case, he told the Indian Express outside the House.
