Another round of tussle between the Arvind Kejriwal Cabinet and Delhi bureaucracy has come to the fore with Principal Secretary (Industries) Shakuntala Doley Gamlin alleging that Delhi Industries Minister Satyendra Jain has been pressurising her to bring a Cabinet proposal for conversion of industrial plots from leasehold to freehold in the national Capital despite the fact that land is not under Delhi Government.
In Delhi, the lieutenant Governor has exclusive authority on land matter that is delegated by the President of India. According to analysts, the proposal is likely to benefit industrialists or businessmen who own big plots in industrial areas such as Bawana, Narela and Borgarh areas. In a confidential note to Delhi lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, Gamlin has mentioned, “The Industries Minister had been continuously pressing Principal Secretary (Industries) Shakuntala Gamlin to submit a Cabinet note for the Council of Ministers proposing therein conversion of industrial plots in the city from leasehold to freehold even after full facts pertaining to the legal ramifications of the case that the matter was not within the competence of GNCT Delhi had been brought to his (Industries Minister) notice”.
Gamlin was at the centre of controversy when there was a huge row between Raj Niwas and Players Building over her appointment as acting Chief Secretary. leasehold means that you just have a lease from the freeholder (sometimes called the landlord) to use the home for a number of years. The leases are usually long-term — often 90 years or 120 years but as high as 999 years— but can be short, such as 40 years which means that you own the building and the land it stands on outright, in perpetuity. It is your name in the land registry as “freeholder,” owning the “title absolute.”
“Due to oversight or otherwise, some conversion of industrial plots had been ordered in Delhi without the involvement of land owning agency Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the matter is said to be under scrutiny of the Vigilance Department of Delhi Government. Despite these facts having been brought to the knowledge of the Minister, he kept pressing for a Cabinet note for the Council of Ministers on the subject and expressed his annoyance on several occasions in this regard,” Gamlin said in her note.
Strangely, the AAP Government has always claimed to be party of poor but his Minister is trying hard to give benefit to industrialists and businessmen. It is estimated that over 10,000 plots are on leasehold basis in industrial areas of Bawana, Borgarh, Narela. It is noted that Union Home Ministry in 1961 had enunciated a policy for acquisition, development and lease administration of lands in Delhi for various purposes. The land so acquired called “Nazrul land” is required to be held in the name of the President of India with the lieutenant Governor being vested with powers to administer the same. The Home Ministry had not identified Delhi Government (actually its predecessor at that point of time) as one of the developers of this land. The DDA framed rules for development and disposal of “Nazrul lands in 1981 which are in operation. Thus, Delhi Government is no way involved in the administration of “Nazul lands except through the lieutenant Governor who acts in these matters on the advice of DDA, in his capacity as chairman of that authority (DDA).”
Gamlin, whom the Kejriwal Government had earlier accused of lobbying for Reliance-owned power distribution companies, has claimed that contrary to the allegations against her it was, in fact, she who had ensured that the Delhi Government would not be required to pay anything to the two discoms in lieu of the subsidy it is giving to power consumers in Delhi.
In her secret letter to lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, Gamlin has raised questions over the timing of the controversy by saying that she had placed all the facts related to a comfort letter to power companies to the Minister on April 14. Gamlin refuted the charges and said they were not supported either by facts or circumstances. Gamlin had claimed that she, of her own accord, inserted a provision whereby BRPl and BYPl, the two discoms in question, would be required to adjust the subsidy amount of Rs 1,000 crore from the Delhi Government against dues owed by them to State PSUs and in turn the Delhi Government would pay these dues back to the State power PSUs. And this arrangement, she said, would be till the time the Rs 5,000 crore of dues outstanding against BRPl and BYPl were fully realised.
