Goa land deal scam: Parrikar rubbishes Congress' allegations; defends son

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar rubbished Congress' allegations against his son's land deal in Goa.

Panaji, Feb 3: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has strongly defended a charge levelled by the Congress leadership on Thursday, questioning the mutation of a land tract, purchased by the former Goa chief minister's son and a business associate in 2013, in one day.

Speaking to IANS on Thursday Parrikar said that mutation was a fundamental right and can be legally completed in one day.

"It is nothing new. The law says that it should be done in 24 hours, if documents are presented properly. What is the illegality in getting mutation done. Mutation is a fundamental right of a person."

Earlier on Thursday, Congress secretary Girish Chodankar and All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijaya Singh, while releasing a "charge-sheet" of corruption by ministers and legislators in the incumbent state BJP-led government, had also alleged that laws were broken to allow mutation of the land tract in Sanguem sub district's Netravali village, which was purchased by Abhijat Parrikar, the Defence Minister's son and his associate Krishnaraj Sukerkar.

"Mutation cannot take place in one day. There are processes involved. Laws were broken to allow the mutation to happen in one day," Chodankar had alleged.

Mutation refers to the process involving transfer or change in the title of property in the state's land records.

Parrikar in turn, argued that the media should ask the Congress party for documentation in the said case, adding that under state laws "if all documents are perfect, the mutation has to be carried out in one day...though in his case, it was not one day.

"It took seven days and if a Chief Minister's son cannot get rightful as per law what is his due, how will people get it," Parrikar also said, adding that there were over 250 cases in which mutation was carried out in one day and that the records were available with the state legislative assembly.

IANS