The Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Department is gearing up for a major legal battle to reclaim valuable government land in Pune that was allegedly usurped through fraudulent means. The department will file a civil suit in the Pune court early next week, seeking the cancellation of a sale deed for a sprawling 6.32-hectare plot in Tathawade. This action comes after a sub-registrar illegally transferred the land to a private party without obtaining the mandatory state approval.
Exhausting All Avenues for Resolution
Senior officials revealed that the department was forced to take the legal route after the private party involved flatly refused to execute a mutual cancellation deed. This left the civil suit as the only viable legal remedy to correct the wrong. The department had approached the court last week, initiating the process.
Animal Husbandry Commissioner Pravin Deore confirmed the development, stating that all options for an amicable, mutual resolution have been exhausted. "Since the other party is unwilling, we are proceeding with the civil suit, which will be filed next week, and the court's final order will have to be implemented," Deore told TOI. He added that as a protective measure, the land will be officially marked as "disputed" in government records. This will effectively prevent any further transactions or attempts to sell the property until the court delivers its final verdict on the matter.
Anatomy of a Multi-Crore Scam
The scale of the alleged fraud is staggering. The prime government land, with an estimated market value of nearly Rs 750 crore, was transferred to a private entity through a deal worth only Rs 33 crore. Investigations uncovered a trail of blatant irregularities. The sub-registrar responsible for processing the registration was found to have used an outdated land document—a June 2023 7/12 extract—instead of the updated February 2025 version. Crucially, the updated document clearly stated that the land was 'prohibited from purchase-sale without prior government permission'.
Officials discovered that the sub-registrar exploited the system's 'skip' option to bypass mandatory verification checks. Adding to the dubious nature of the transaction, the recorded landowner had died decades ago, and no legal heirs were listed. The Inspector General of Registration (IGR) office had flagged the registration as containing "evident irregularities." Consequently, the sub-registrar was suspended under Rule 4 of the Maharashtra Civil Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1979, and has been directed to report to the Principal Stamp Office in Mumbai.
Correcting the Record and Legal Preparedness
Parallel to the civil suit, the animal husbandry department has instructed revenue authorities to cancel the mutation entry that was forwarded by the registration department based on the fake documents. Additional Commissioner Shitalkumar Mukane, who is overseeing the legal action, confirmed that the status quo has been restored in the mutation records, which now correctly reflect the government as the rightful owner of the land parcel.
"The circle officer has already ensured that the correct mutation entry is in place after fake documents were used to usurp government land," Mukane stated. He also confirmed that all the necessary paperwork for filing the civil suit has been completed, setting the stage for a decisive courtroom confrontation to reclaim the high-value asset for the state.
