Mumbai The Maharashtra revenue department has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the transfer of 174 acres of government-owned land reserved for grazing in Kalyan to Premier Automobiles Limited in the 1960s and its subsequent transactions. Headed by the Konkan divisional commissioner, the SIT will examine how the land was originally allotted to the automobile company and how portions of the parcel later changed hands, including through deals involving major real estate companies.
It has been given a month to complete the investigation, identify instances of irregularity or land grabbing, fix responsibility, and make recommendations. Production of the company’s best-known model the Premier Padmini, ended in 1997. The automobile giant eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and subsequently began exploring ways to monetise its land holdings. The SIT will probe the alleged irregular transfer, tenure conversion and mutation of several parcels of land, according to the order issued by the state revenue department on September 4.
Officials said the land was transferred to Premier Automobiles in the early 1960s, when the company was seeking to expand its operations beyond its manufacturing facility in Kurla.
The SIT has been directed to determine whether the lands were eligible for such conversion and whether the process followed government policy and provisions of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code. A key part of the probe will be the conversion of the lands from Occupancy Class-II to Class-I, which means obtaining ownership rights.
“It will specifically scrutinise the Thane district collector’s order issued on May 3, 2019, and verify whether unearned income or premium was correctly calculated,” the order noted.
