The district administration has taken back around 100 acre of land, which was ‘illegally’ occupied by famous Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi for his farmhouse at Sohna, about 15 km from Gurgaon. The price of the land is estimated to be around Rs250 crore.
The Revenue Department on Saturday handed over the possession of the land to Sohna Municipal Committee, said sub-divisional magistrate Vivek Kalia. In February, the district administration had confiscated 10 acres of land of the farmhouse and had issued a notice to Daler Mehndi.
According to Kalia, the total market value of the land is more than Rs250 crore. “The administration had served him a legal notice on February 13 under ‘Public Premises and land Eviction and Rent Recovery Act 1972’ for illegally occupying land in Sohna,” Kalia said, adding that the singer didn’t respond to the notice. “The land occupied by him was a ‘shamilat deh’ (common land) of a village panchayat. Currently, Sohna Municipal Committee legally owns this land,” the officer said.
Earlier in 2011, the Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner PC Meena had transferred around 1,800 acre of land including some ‘shamilat deh’ to Sohna Municipal Committee, said Kalia. “As no reply was filed by the singer even after one month of serving the notice, the Revenue Department handed over the possession of the land to Sohna Municipal Committee on Saturday,” he said.
Nayab tehsildar Devendra Malik, SDM of south district court, has also served a notice to singer, to clarify his stand before the SDM court in 15 days. The earlier restoration of land was carried out on March 28.
The court has given its verdict after no one from his side filed an appeal request in the SDM court. The court has also given certain time to evict the whole farmhouse, Malik said. According to the sources, around 112 acres Municipal Committee’s land in Roz-Ka-Gujjar village had been illegally occupied by Mehndi. He has developed a farmhouse on that land and using it for commercial purpose. Out of 112 acres land, 65 acres land are said to be on legal, while remaining land was illegal.