BJP welcomes HC order in Pune land scam

Mumbai, Feb 22 (PTI) The BJP today welcomed the BombayHigh Court''s decision to transfer the probe into the Pune landscam to CBI, but said its leader Raj Purohit''s name wasincluded in an earlier report on the scam without anyevidence.

Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and BJPmember Eknath Khadse, in a statement here, said the HC''sdecision to transfer probe was a "slap on the StateGovernment''s face".

On Purohit, the Mumbai BJP President, the statementsaid his name was put in the report by an inquiry committeeunder IAS officer Sudhakar Joshi formed by earlier CongressGovernment.

Purohit was never summoned by the Joshi Committee,Khadse said, adding it was a "politically vindictive" actionby the Congress-NCP-led State Government.

The main Opposition party finds itself in a spot overthe issue because the HC''s order came on a PIL filed by itsown leader Madhav Bhandari.

While transferring probe to CBI, the HC today askedthe Central agency to register an FIR against Purohit, aformer Minister of State for Urban Development, and officersof Revenue Department.

Bhandari''s PIL alleged that bogus certificates wereissued under the Urban Land Ceiling Act (now repealed),declaring vast swathes of land in Pune as non-surplus.

By obtaining these certificates, the owners concernedthen avoided surrendering the land to the state under ULCA,and sold them to builders. State CID had earlier registeredsome 29 cases in this regard.