District administration issues notice to Rani

Ahmednagar, Nov 15 (UNI) The district administration has issued notices to film actor Rani Mukherjee for purchasing state government-owned land leased to farmers, without the requisite permission.

Rani had purchased 11 ''gunthas'' of land, to build a bungalow, from Mr Sampat More at the temple town of Shirdi near here on December 21, 2005, at Rs 33 lakh paying a stamp duty of Rs 1.32 lakh.

However, last week, when Rani inquired with the Rahata tehsildar whether the registration had been completed, she found out that the land could not be transferred in her name.

The land originally belonged to the Maharashtra State Farming Corporation (MSFC) and had been leased out to one Raman Kshirsagar in 1981. Kshirsagar had sold plots to four persons and one of them was Mr Sampat More. The latter had subsequently sold his portion of the land to Rani.

However, Rahata Sub Divisional Officer Nandkumar Suryavanshi has said that the purchase of the land by the actor from Mr More is invalid and illegal as prior permission from the state government for the purpose was required and the actor had not taken the same.

Mr More, incidentally, in an affidavit before the Rahata tehsildar on December 31, 2005, stated that the land belonged to him. Mr More, who is serving as a manager in a Shirdi hotel, has meanwhile said that the present imbroglio is only due to technical anamolies and he had no intention to cheat the actor.

He is ready to return the actor's money, he added.

UNI