Minster for land Revenue Amar Kumar Bauri assured the Assembly on Friday that all land belonging to tribal communities got settled after 2003 would be scrapped. He also said that the SIT formed to look into all such cases in Jharkhand would be probing the matter independently and without any fear or favour.
Answering a question from JMM's Chamra linda during Question Hour the Minister said that there was no need to remove any particular official related to such cases to ensure fairness. "The officials who have done such settlements cannot affect the directions and outcome of the probe. If need be, such officials would be removed. As the regulation stands, no settlement done against the land protected under the CNT and SPT Act after 2003 can be considered legal," said Bauri.
linda, citing the settlement provision, asked about the legality of such settlements whose limit was only till 2003; i.e. 30 years since 1973 when the provision was enacted. Several instances of violations have come into light that also put question mark over SAR courts functional in the State.
The Minister went ahead assuring about the fair play and said that the Cabinet has already okayed the SIT headed by a retired Chief Secretary to look into all the violations done concerning diversion of lands protected under CNT and SPT provisions. "No one, not even a white-collar person would be spared into the matter. The Government is fully committed to this," said Bauri.
Besides, the House also passed Jharkhand VAT (Amendment) Bill-2015 that proposes tax rate on stock transfer from present 4 per cent to 5 per cent. This would be applicable on the companies producing goods in the State but sell most of those outside through their head offices settled in other States.
Congress' Alamgir Alam and JVM's Pradeep Yadav demanded the Bill to be referred to the Select Committee for detailed discussion. Yadav also suggested that the VAT rate for stock transfer cases should be enhanced even further so that the State can get greater revenue. The hike of one per cent is set to fetch revenue in tune of Rs 2,000 crore to Jharkhand.
Assembly also cleared Jharkhand Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill- 2015. With this the Government assured that panchayat polls in the State would be completed in November-December 2015. Also, disqualification of any elected member can be brought before the State Election Commission if he or she has been convicted.