Gujarat: In Goradias’ property deal, notices issued to 10 respondents

Source: indianexpress.com

The Gujarat High Court on Monday stayed the order of the Special Secretary of Revenue Department (SSRD) in the case of a property transaction under the Disturbed Areas Act involving the Goradia and Fazlani families on the Vasna Tandalja road in Vadodara.

In the order, the SSRD had directed the District Collector of Vadodara to set aside the permission granted for the sale of the property until an investigation into the complaints from residents alleging violation of the Act was completed. The HC, while staying the order, also stayed the proceedings before the SSRD in the matter and issued notices to 10 respondents to the petition.

The petition filed by Faisal Fazlani and Zeenat Fazlani who purchased a property from the Goradias, sought the court’s intervention in declaring the representations of the residents objecting to the sale “unlawful” as they are “not maintainable, being in contravention against the provisions of the Disturbed Areas Act as well as settled legal provisions and proportions of the law”. It lists 10 respondents, including Geeta Goradia and her mother-in-law Dr Nirmala Goradia, who were joint owners of the said property purchased by the Fazlanis.

The other respondents include the government of Gujarat through the SSRD, the District Collector and the Deputy Collector of Vadodara as well as five residents of the locality — Dr Harshil Shah, Harsh Rana, Ankur Agarwal, Santosh Ramanand, Girish Pathak — who have signed the appeal against the consent granted by the District Collector for the sale in July this year.

On September 25, following representations from the residents, who also met Chief Minister Vijay Rupani to expedite their cause, the SSRD issued a notice to the District Collector setting aside the permission of the transaction and asking all revenue departments to maintain status quo in procedures of registration and mutations of property card until an investigation in the matter was complete. Two officers — a police inspector of JP road police station in Vadodara and the Talati of Tandalja were transferred subsequently after internal probe revealed “mishandling” of the procedures duly laid down by the Act while granting permissions.

A lawyer representing Fazlanis said that the HC admitted the petition and granted interim relief, which means that the order of the SSRD has been stayed in its whole form along with the proceedings till the hearing was complete. “Therefore, the revenue department will be required to process the transaction”.

Officials of the district administration, however, said that they were yet to receive the notice or the order of the HC. District Collector Shalini Agarwal declined to comment.

On September 20, residents of Kesarbaug society and surrounding colonies submitted representations contending that the family subverted the process of law by submitting erroneous applications with misleading addresses as well as signatures. The memorandum submitted to Rupani also demanded immediate suspension of the officials who ratified the transaction of the property.

The case pertains to a family property of the Goradias, measuring 15,000 square feet, which was sold for about Rs 6 crore in August this year to Faisal Fazlani, a noted businessman and educationist within the Muslim community.

According to members of both parties, the deal was sealed in August though the process to seek permission under the Disturbed Areas Act was initiated earlier this year. The memorandum contends that as per the provisions of the Act, the sale of a property to a Muslim in a Hindu dominated area and vice-versa cannot be done until each immediate neighbour of such property consents to the deal.