PC lands in more land trouble

More skeletons have tumbled out of Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s closet. This time it is about the stark discrepancies in the land holding declared in the name of his wife in the affidavits filed before the Election Commission of India in 2004 and 2009.

In 2004 election affidavit, PC declared his wife Nalini held only 1.2 acres on Chennai’s seafront. But in the 2009 election affidavit under the same survey numbers, he declared a holding of 3.72 acres. At the same time, the latest land records in the panchayat register mention Nalini has around 10 acres in the locality since 1991.

Not only both affidavits differ with each other they also differ with his statements on assets and liabilities filed to the Prime Minister in 2011 and 2012 as well as land records register of the concerned panchayat.

In his affidavit filed before Election Commission for the  2004 Lok Sabha election, Chidambaram  declared his wife Nalini had a total of 1.2 acres under different survey numbers of the locality and declared Rs 95 lakh as the value of the properties.

In his affidavit, Chidambaram said, Nalini has 0.2 acres land property worth Rs 60 lakh under survey number 103/1&2 in Kanathur Village. He said that his wife also has 1 acre land worth Rs 35 lakh under survey number 98/7 in the adjoining Muttukadu Village.

But in the 2009 elections, Chidambaram declared his wife has a total of 3.72 acres under the same survey numbers. In his affidavit for the 2009 controversial Sivaganga Lok Sabha polls, Chidambaram said Nalini owned 0.84 acres in Kanathur Village under survey numbers 103/1&2 (same survey numbers mentioned in the 2004 affidavit) and valued the property for Rs 1.05 crore.

He said his wife also has 2.88 acres worth Rs 2.44 crore under survey number 98/7 (same survey number in 2004) in Muttukadu Village. The gross value of both lands was shown as Rs 3.49 crores. In his election affidavits and in his 2011 affidavit to PM on his assets and liabilities, Chidambaram showed as agriculture land which Nalini held near the seashore.

  But in 2012, in his statement to the Prime Minister, he did not claim agriculture status to the same land.

Chidambaram’s contrasting declarations on his wife’s properties to the Election Commission in 2004 and 2009 does not tally with the land records register of Muttukadu Panchayat.

The land register details available with The Pioneer shows that in the seafront area from 1991 onwards, Nalini had several tracts of land totalling around 10 acres. The land records have no mention of previous owners in most of the transactions.

The question arises as to  why Chidambaram did not mention in his election affidavits the details of the 10 acres held by his wife from 1991 onward as shown by the land records.

The Pioneer had already reported that in his statement to PM in 2011, Chidambaram undervalued the price of Nalini’s holdings in the seafront area to just Rs 27 lakh, without giving any specifics of the land including area wise details. 

In his latest filing to Prime Minister (as on March 31, 2012), while  he did not claim agricultural status to the land, he  further devalued it to Rs 25 lakh. It is a known that the current market price of the land is around Rs 10 crore per acre in Chennai’s East Coast Road.

Like his earlier declaration to PM, the Finance Minister also did not give specifics of the land “owned” by his wife, who is facing allegations of land grabbing by fishermen community.

The fisher folk of the locality allege Chidambaram’s family members had encroached three kilometre stretch of the seafront area including a salt lake in the East Coast Road for constructing a luxury hotel. The State Government ordered a probe in this regard against Chidambaram’s wife Nalini and son Karti after fishermen recently lodged a complaint to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

 

Realty check

In 2004 Lok Sabha election affidavit,  PC declared wife Nalini held only 1.2 acres in Chennai’s seafront. He valued the property at Rs 95 lakh

In the 2009 election affidavit under the same survey numbers, PC declared Nalini holds 3.72 acres. The properties were valued at Rs 3.49 crore

In an affidavit to the Prime Minister on his assets and liabilities statement in 2011, PC devalued Nalini’s property to just Rs 27 lakh without providing any specifics of the land embroiled in land grab charges. He claimed this property near the seafront was agricultural land

In his latest affidavit of 2012 to the Prime Minister, PC devalued the land price further to Rs 25 lakh. This time he did not claim this was agricultural land

The latest land records in the Muttukadu panchayat register mention Nalini has around 10 acres since 1991. The market value of the property is estimated at Rs 10 crore per acre.

The State Government is probing charges of land grabbing on the basis of a complaint filed by fishermen

Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/360-todays-newspaper/93728-pc-lands-in-more-land-trouble.html