PIL filed against allotment of prime land to RSS-linked bodies

Former Minister and Congress MLA Govind Singh has filed a PIL in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, alleging that the BJP government had allotted prime land to its allied organisations at 66 places, at throwaway prices and demanded cancellation of these allotments.

The PIL alleged that the BJP government had allotted prime land at 66 places in Madhya Pradesh at throwaway prices to BJP district units, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and RSS-affiliated Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, to construct their offices and other purposes.

The petitioner also highlighted a Supreme Court judgement cancelling a similar allotment of land to the Kushabhau Thakre Trust in Bhopal. He alleged that prime lands were allotted to these organisations at merely Rs 1 per square feet for a 30-years lease, without following any rules or regulations.

When the PIL was heard on Monday in the division bench of Acting Chief Justice KK Lahoti and Justice Subhash Kakade, the MP government counsel objected to the petition calling it "politically motivated".

The counsel argued that the petitioner is a senior Congress leader who filed the PIL not in public interest, but only for political gains, since assembly polls are due this year. Therefore, the PIL deserves to be quashed, he argued. Later, the division bench directed the petitioner to submit an affidavit that he filed the PIL in public interest and not for political mileage.