National Herald case: Maharashta govt yet to start probe into AJL land allotment

The Maharashtra govt is yet to begin probe into the alleged irregularities regarding land allotted to Associated Journals Ltd, the company that owns National Herald.

Mumbai: Nearly a fortnight after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that senior bureaucrat Gautam Chatterjee will probe the alleged irregularities regarding land allotted to Associated Journals Ltd, the company that owns National Herald, the inquiry is yet to begin.

Additional Chief Secretary Gautam Chatterjee said that he is yet to receive an official communication from the government to conduct the probe.

"So far, I have not received any communication from the government. I have only been hearing about it from media reports," he said.

Chatterjee said the modalities and guidelines for the probe will have to be decided first and that any bureaucrat who conducts the probe will have to look into the nature of land allotment, the conditions on which the land was allotted and whether any of those conditions were violated or not.

Chatterjee has held several key posts in the state government, including in the Housing department.

During the recently concluded Maharashtra Legislature winter session, Mumbai BJP president and MLA Ashish Shelar had demanded the state government to take back the plot of land alloted to Associated Journals Limited (AJL) in Bandra.

Raising the issue through Point of Propriety in the Legislative Assembly, he had said that the state government had allotted the land to AJL for construction of Nehru Memorial Library and Research Centre.