Fwd: Revenue loss of over 25000 crores in Maharashtra
Pradip Pradhan
From: shailesh gandhi <shail...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, May 22, 2013 at 7:40 PM
Subject: Fwd: Revenue loss of over 25000 crores in Maharashtra
To:
Would you believe that Maharashtra loses oGrver 25000 crores annually because of carelessness/corruption, and this has not been exposed so far?
Are we really poor or are we thrust into poverty? The recent scams which have been unearthed give me a feeling that we may actually be quite well off with enough resources. If the lakhs of crores of public resources being given away and snatched away by the few were to come to the public exchequer, we could be quite comfortable as a Nation. I have been pursuing one such scam in Maharashtra in which I believe a few thousand crores of public money is being lost to benefit a few.
Maharashtra’ debt is about 2.7 lakh crore, and we pay the interest for this. A State owns many resources on behalf of Citizens. One of these is land. Governments sell some of the lands and give some on lease. The idea behind giving certain lands on lease is to basically have an inflation-proof investment and sometimes, to encourage certain activities. Hence it offers lands on lease. It wishes to retain the land so that it may basically ensure that its revenue matches with the growth in inflation.
A lease is legal transaction which primarily lays down the area which is leased, purpose for which the land is to be used, period of lease, lease rent and certain other conditions. When the lease expires, it may be renewed with the lessor increasing the lease rent as per the market price which reflect the inflation in the intervening period.
When any individual or Institution gives land or a property on lease and the lease expires, a fresh lease is drawn up at the prevailing market rates if the lessee wants to continue. This simple principle has not been followed in Mumbai and possibly in the State of Maharashtra. I have been told that this is true all over the country. Some leases are renewed, while some are allowed to continue occupying the land at the old rates. What are the reasons for such irrational actions?
This may be due to carelessness or corruption.
I had discovered this in 2005 and drawn the attention of the Chief Secretary to this in a letter titled ‘Arbitrariness and huge loss of public money in Public lands given on lease’. I have now got the scanned copy of the file relating to this which has over 600 pages over the years, (about 22MB) and has ended on a bizzare note. The Supreme Court is the 2G case has said, “In conclusion, we hold that the State is the legal owner of the natural resources as a trustee of the people and although it is empowered to distribute the same, the process of distribution must be guided by the constitutional principles including the doctrine of equality and larger public good.” The poorest man who may be starving is an equal and rightful owner of this land, and it is necessary that the appropriate revenue is obtained for him. I looked at the list of leases of lands given by the two Collectors of Mumbai (obtained in RTI) and decided to calculate the worth of the lands where lease deeds have expired and unauthorized occupiers are allowed to continue.
Let me first share the route the Maharashtra Government has decided to adopt after 8 years of confabulations: The Govt. has decided to offer the lands to the lessees at about 20 to 30% of the value! I am shocked at this irrational action of the Government and think it is about time, citizens defend their revenue by telling the Government they will not accept this approach. The detailed calculations are given in the attached two excel spreadsheets. In the case of the information about leases provided by the Mumbai collector, in 103 cases there is no mention of the lease date and period of lease. Despite a specific query by me using RTI, the PIO has said they will need two to three months to provide this information! (attached….).
There are also other Government agencies like BMC which have similar lands in Mumbai. My calculation (in the two attached sheets) estimates that there is an annual loss of about 1550 crores by Mumbai Collector and about 1200 crores due to the Suburban collector, ie. a total revenue loss of 2750 crores each year. The Government now proposes to give away ownership rights to the lessees for 2248 plus 1841 crores onetime! Citizens must protest before the Government dispossess us of our land and legitimate revenue. If we can get the Government to auction the leases in Mumbai and all over Maharashtra we could have a revenue stream of over 25000 crores each year. Citizens and media need to make the Government get the appropriate revenue by fixing lease amounts at current rates. Also this is a revenue stream which is partial hedge against inflation, saving future generations from having to pay ever higher taxes. The revenue loss in Mumbai is around 2500 crores, without taking into account lands given by other agencies. The geographical area of Maharashtra is about 700 that of Mumbai. It is most likely that the revenue loss on this account will be over 10 times that in Mumbai, ie. about 25000 crores.
What is the position across the Nation?
You might find the following rows interesting in the Col Mum list:214, 239, 247, 296, 437, 601, 969, 974, 980
Attached excel sheets for Mumbai collector and the Mumbai Suburban collector.
Love
shailesh
All my emails are in Public domain.
Mera Bharat Mahaan...
Nahi Hai,
Per Yeh Dosh Mera Hai.
Tel: 91 22 26001003; 8976240798
Love
shailesh
All my emails are in Public domain.
Mera Bharat Mahaan...
Nahi Hai,
Per Yeh Dosh Mera Hai.
Tel: 91 22 26001003; 8976240798