Shimla: Rejecting Union Minister VB Singh's charge that Himachal Pradesh government had violated laws for giving a tea estate to a trust linked to Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan, Chief Minister PK Dhumal on Monday alleged that the previous Congress regime led by Singh had granted dozens of such permissions during 2003 and 2007.
Hitting back at Singh, Dhumal said the Congress government headed by Singh had granted "dozens of such permissions during 2003 and 2007 in relaxation of provisions of Section 118 of Tenancy and Land Reforms Act and section 6 and 6A of Ceiling on Land Holdings Act to buy tea estate land in Palampur, Dharamsala and Baijnath".
Himachal Revenue Minister Gulab Singh Thakur said that the BJP government granted permission in one case only and Prashant Bhushan's Kumud Bhushan Educational Society was granted permission under Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act to buy 4.68 hectares of land at Palampur for building an educational institution on February 2, 2010.
The owner of the land, a resident of Kamlehar (Palampur) village was granted permission to transfer this tea garden to Bhushan's society in relaxation of sections 6-A and 7-A of the HP Ceiling Act, 1972 and the society was also allowed "change in land use".
Under section 6 A of the Ceiling Act, "if the land exempted under Ceiling Act is put without the permission of the State Government to any other use than raising or maintenance of tea plantation or a purpose subservient to tea plantation, it shall be treated as surplus area and shall be deemed to have been acquired by the state government for a public purpose".
The tea estates were exempted under the Ceiling Act on the basis of their nomenclature as "tea gardens".
Sources claimed the Congress government had granted permission for diversion of tea estates in about 30 cases in Kangra district.
The Congress government even gave permissions to non- Himachalis, including two Tibetan trusts, they alleged.
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