Justice Patel, family file ULC returns

Nagpur, Oct 16 (UNI) J N Patel, the senior-most judge of the Bombay High Court, and his family have filed returns with the Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) authorities for the land that they own in the city and part of which was sold recently.

The return was filed yesterday, and the details would now be verified, official sources said.

The authorities had earlier issued the family a notice, asking them to submit the land documents and returns, after they sold part of the property in a major deal. The notice was issued as the ULC Act was applicable to the said land since it was a part of the Nagpur urban agglomerate, officials said.

The notice pertained to the 41.14 acres of the ancestral property of the Patel family, which was sold in May for a whopping Rs 105 crore. The deal was signed between Justice Patel, his brothers Shrinarayan Hiralal Patel and Harinarayan Hiralal Patel, and the Mumbai-based Hagwood Commercial Developers Private Limited, floated by the Provogue Group of Companies, headed by Nikhil Chaturvedi.

In addition, two other members of the Patel family, brother Shivnarayan Hiralal Patel and sister Lilavati Tukaram Yadav, signed the deed as consenting parties.

The deal was made at a rate of Rs 2.55 crore per acre, or Rs 585 per square foot at a time when the official ready reckoner put the rate for land in the area at Rs 10 lakh per acre. The land is situated at Chinchbhuwan, just on the outskirts of Nagpur city and barely a kilometre away from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport. The total area sold was 41,600 square metres, or nearly 18 lakh square feet.

The buying party has already paid Rs 90 crore to the vendor, and has promised to pay the balance before January 1 next, for which it has also furnished a bank guarantee. The buyer intends to construct a township, a five-star hotel and a shopping mall on the land.

UNI