The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a petition registered by around 19 cooperative societies and associations dissenting to the sale of a plot by a Hindu to Muslim contractors. The petition stated that the contractors have deceitfully purchased the land on Gorat Road in the Rander area of Surat. The Gujarat government has also imposed the Disturbed Areas Act on that area.
The residents amongst the petitioners around the plot stated that the Evergreen Corporation, a real estate company with two Muslim associates, altered their partnership nature to complete the deal with a Hindu family for the 4,000 sq m land.
They accused the firm of including a Hindu partner for a temporary period to complete the sale permission from the collectorate under the Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act.
The prohibition on property dealings in the area had been imposed on March 14, 2020. In the petition, it is stated that the Evergreen Corporation included a Hindu partner about two days post the imposition of the restriction. Subsequent to the neighbourhood’s dissent and resistance, the deputy collector analysed and set the matter on September 9, 2021.
Earlier this year, residents approached the HC, urging them to nullify the sale permission. “The sale permission was fraudulently obtained. This was why the deputy collector revoked his permission and the secretary did not listen,” said the Counsel representing the residents.
On the other hand, the contractors’ lawyers put forward the idea of free and fair value. “The neighbour has no scope of interfering in the matter. The sale permission was revoked. The area was no longer under the Act. The Act was not imposed in the area after July 31, 2021,” the lawyer said.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat government has supported the sale permission, submitting that the authorities had adhered to the process.
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