Rajiv Trust told to return land in Amethi

Tribune News Service

Lucknow/New Delhi, August 26

In a setback to Congress vice-president and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi, a revenue court in Amethi today ordered the return of 65.57 acres bought by Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust to the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC).

The order, issued by Gauriganj Sub-Divisional Magistrate Vandita Srivastava, comes three days after Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani had, at a public meeting in Amethi, accused the Trust of land-grabbing.

Irani had accused the Nehru-Gandhi family controlled Trust of purchasing land that was acquired from farmers in the 1980s on the promise of setting up a bicycle factory and providing employment to the residents.

The revenue court questioned the deal through which the land, in Kauhar village and originally belonging to the UPSIDC, was transferred to the Trust. The Congress, however, said there was nothing illegal about the Trust’s possession of the land. “The Trust bought the land in an auction ordered by the Delhi High Court at the instance of the Industrial Finance Corporation of India after the company in question defaulted and went into liquidation,” a party statement said.

Lawyer Uma Shanker Pandey, representing the farmers, said the UPSIDC regional manager had written to the Amethi district magistrate requesting for cancellation of the auction through which the Trust got the land registered in its name on February 24, 2015. The manager had argued that as the UPSIDC had leased the land to bicycle company Samrat Cycles, it should have been returned to the UPSIDC instead of being auctioned and bought by the Trust.

Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said: “Samrat Bicycles defaulted and went into liquidation. The land and company’s physical assets were auctioned by the Delhi HC. The Trust participated in the auction and was successful on March 10, 2011.”