Nazul Lands ,freehold conversion in Uttar Pradesh

The letter in brackets following the words listed here below indicates the language it belongs to or it originates from: (A) = Arabic, (E) = English, (H) = Hindi, (P) = Persian.

1-                                                    Nazul Lands (P/E): Land vested with the public authority for developmental purpose as per the stipulations of the authority.

Baden Powell defined Nazul property as “Property escheated or lapsed to the State; commonly applied to any land or house property belonging to Government either as an escheat or as having belonged to former Governments.”

          The State Government may, by notification in the Gazette and upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between that Government and the Authority, place at the disposal of the Authority all or any developed and undeveloped lands in the development area vested in the State (known as “Nazul lands”), for the purpose of development in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

       Once any such land has been placed at the disposal of the Authority, no development of any such land shall be undertaken or carried out except by or under the control and supervision of the Authority.

       After any such Nazul land has been developed by or under the control and supervision of the Authority, it will be dealt with by the Authority in accordance  with the directions given by the State Government in that behalf.

      If any nazul land placed at the disposal of the Authority is required at any time thereafter by the State Government, the Authority shall, by notification by the Gazette, replace it at the disposal of that Government upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between that Government and the Authority.

conversion of 'nazul' (land given by municipal authorities to private persons)

2-                                                    Vikas Pradhikaran (H), Development Authority (E): Every big city (mostly of more than a million inhabitants � but again there are no strict norms) has a Development Authority which supervises various aspects of Urban Management including land, housing, services etc. They also oversee legal aspects pertaining to building bye-laws, Master Plan norms etc. and develop perspective plans for the future.

(www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~neeravv/presentations/project%20work.pdf)

(E:\11 n 2\govt ,authorities plan on land)

        U. P. URBAN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ACT, 1973

      Uttar Pradesh Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised                Occupants) Act. 1972

3-                                                    Nagar Nigam (H), Nagar Palika (H), Nagar Parishad (H): Nagar Nigam refers to a Municipal Corporation and Nagar Palika or Nagar Parishad (nomenclature varies from state to state) refers to a Municipal Council. A corporation is higher than a council in the hierarchy of municipal administration. There are no strict norms for giving a municipality the status of a corporation or council � the decision is mostly political.

4-                                                    Notified Area (E): Any land area earmarked with the help of legal provisions for the purpose of future development, as stipulated in the Master Plan.

5-                                                    Patta (H): Title to land. Under the slum upgrading and resettlement schemes, land title is being given to the residents in the hope that they would make further investment to improve their own housing conditions and living standards. This is also a guarantee against future eviction.

6-                                                    Standard Rent (E): Worked out on the basis of the value of land and cost of construction when built, as per the provisions of the Rent Control Act with the objective of protecting the tenant from exorbitant rent and eviction.

7-                                                    Khasra (P): Refers to a plot of land which is numbered in the Master Plan of a city. Any developmental plan sketched on the basis of the Master Plan refers to a khasra number. If the khasras in a Master Plan are not properly numbered developmental plans gets hindered.

8-                                                    Power of Attorney (E): Supposedly a legal provision through which the right of occupancy, management, and transfer of a property is given by the owner to another person. The Law Ministry has doubts about the validity of such transfer deals ; nevertheless, a large number of properties, particularly in north Indian cities, are changing hands, using this provision.

9-                                                    Statutory town (E): A settlement having an urban local body viz. Municipality, Corporation, Town Area Committee, Notified Area Committee, Cantonment, Town Panchayat,...

http://www.unesco.org/most/p2basu.htm

Nazul-Government of U.P,Collector and Sub Registrar

Amit Kumar vs State Of Uttar Pradesh And Ors. on 21 May, 2003

(2003) 2 UPLBEC 1733

------------------ land in question measuring 160 acres

--------------Special Secretary, U.P. Government issued letter dated 19.1.2001 to the District Magistrates Varanasi for cancelling the free hold proceedings and accordingly, the District Magistrate Varanasi vide order dated 27.7.2001 has cancelled the same.

--------------subsequently by notice dated 21.3.2001, petitioner was informed that the land does not vest in the State of U.P., and hence the proceedings for cancellation of the deed dated 2.4.98 have been initiated and petitioner can file objection.

--------------The Defence Estate Officer, Allahabad requested the District Magistrate, Varanasi to instruct the Sub-Registrar to refuse registration of such transaction in order to safeguard the interest of the Government of India in the defence land. A true copy of the letter dated 17.11.1997 has been annexed as Annexure-CA-7 to the counter-affidavit.

------------ Granting the power of management does not, in our opinion, amounts to transfer of title to the land, which, in our opinion, continues to vest in Government of India. Thus, there is no force in this petition and it is dismissed.                           

Bench: M Katju, R Tripathi

Allahabad High Court

2. It is alleged in Paragraph 3 of the petition that the petitioner's father was the lessee of Property No. S-17/317-B, Nadesar, Varanasi. In respect of which the Municipal Board, Varanasi executed a lease deed on 17.7.1957, vide Annexure-1 to the writ petition. This lease was granted in favour of the petitioner's father for a period of 30 years and hence it was to expire on 29th March, 1987. The petitioner's father gave an application to the Administrator Nagar Mahapalika, Varanasi (Now Nagar Nigam) on 24.3.87, vide Annexure-2 to the writ petition praying for extension of the lease period for a period of 99 years. However, it is alleged that no action was taken on this application.

3. By Notification dated 23.5.1992, issued by the State Government vide Annexure-3 to the writ petition, the Nazul Policy of the State Government was declared.

4-------------and deposited Rs. 16,000 and a free hold deed was executed in his favour on 2.5.98 vide Annexure-7 to the writ petition.------------- In Paragraph 22 of the petition it is stated that subsequently by notice dated 21.3.2001, petitioner was informed that the land does not vest in the State of U.P., and hence the proceedings for cancellation of the deed dated 2.4.98 have been initiated and petitioner can file objection.

5-. A counter-affidavit has been filed and we have perused the same. It is stated in Paragraph 6 of the same that only management of the plots measuring 160 acres including the land in question was entrusted to the Municipal Board, Benaras (now known as Nagar Nigam, Varanasi). The Commissioner, Benaras Division vide letter dated 11.5.1898 addressed to the Chairman, Municipal Board. Benaras informed that the area transferred will be considered intra-municipal Nazul of which the usufruct has been transferred to the Municipality. It was stated in that letter that 3/4 of the income of such Nazul land would go to the Municipality or District Board, and 1/4 income would go to the Provincial Revenue. As such it is alleged that no title had been transferred by the Union of India in favour of Nagar Nigam, Varanasi.------------------- The Defence Estate Officer, Allahabad sent a letter to the District Magistrate, Varanasi bringing to his notice that defence land in Nadesar area, Varanasi Cantonment is being sold and the sale transaction are being registered by the Sub-Registrar without making any reference to the Cantonment Board, Varani.si or Defence Estate Officer, Allahabad. He brought to the notice of the District Magistrate, Varanasi that no intimation about the same was received in his office. He requested the District Magistrate, Varanasi to instruct the Sub-Registrar to refuse registration of such transaction in order to safeguard the interest of the Government of India in the defence land. A true copy of the letter dated 17.11.1997 has been annexed as Annexure-CA-7 to the counter-affidavit.

6. The Government Executive Officer, Varanasi sent letter dated 28.2.1998 and letter dated 21.12.1998 to the Principal Director, Defence Estates, Head Quarters, Central Command, Lucknow bringing the entire facts to his notice that the aforesaid land which was given to the Nagar Nigam, Varanasi for management and the said authority was converting the aforesaid land into free hold. The Cantonment Executive Officer, Varanasi sought guidance from the Principal Director, Defence Estate as to whether the order of the U.P. Government was binding on the Cantonment Board. By another letter dated 21.12.1998 the Cantonment Executive Officer, Varanasi brought to the notice of the Principal Director, Defence Estates that the aforesaid land measuring 160 acres was given to the Municipal Board by the Government of India in the year 1896 for management on payment of certain compensation for the loss of revenue.

7. In Paragraph 14 of the counter-affidavit it is stated that the Principal Director, Defence Estate wrote a letter to the Cantonment Executive Officer, Varanasi that the land was transferred for the management of the Beneras Cantonment to the Nagar Mahapalika, Varanasi on annual payment of Rs. 1657/6 vide Annexure-CA-9 to the counter-affidavit. The Cantonment Board, Varanasi then resolved that permanent transfer of the land to the Municipal Corporation be offered on payment of market value to the Defence Ministry and on unwillingness to do so to pay the transfer value, vide Annexure-CA-10 to the counter-affidavit. The Cantonment Board, Varanasi communicated about the resolution to the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, Varanasi vide letter dated 24.7.1999 Annexure-CA-11 to the counter-affidavit. In Paragraph 17 of the counter-affidavit it is stated that objection having been raised by the Cantonment Board, Varanasi and the Defence Estate Officer, Allahabad about the conversion of land to free hold, the matter was taken up with the State Government as a consequence of which the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, Varanasi wrote a letter dated 3.1.2001 and another letter dated 9.1.2001 to the District Magistrate, Varanasi bringing the entire facts to the notice of the District Magistrate and requesting for cancellation of proceedings for conversion of land to free hold. True copies of the said letters are Annexure-CA-12 to the counter-affidavit.

8. In Paragraph 18 of the counter-affidavit it is stated that in the relevant Khatauni the land in question measuring 160 acres contains entry to the effect that the ownership of the land is of the Government of India vide Annexure-CA-13 to the counter-affidavit. Since the entire matter was brought to the notice of the State Government the Special Secretary, U.P. Government issued letter dated 19.1.2001 to the District Magistrates Varanasi for cancelling the free hold proceedings and accordingly, the District Magistrate Varanasi vide order dated 27.7.2001 has cancelled the same. It is alleged in Paragraph 20 of the counter-affidavit that the respondent 1 to 6 had no right at all to transfer the land or to convert the same into free hold since the ownership of the land vests in the Government of India, Defence Ministry. The Government of India is the owner of the land and hence the State Government or the District Magistrate, Varanasi has no right to sell the land or allow it to be converted into free hold. Only the management of the land was entrusted to the Municipal Board, Varanasi but the Municipal Board was no authorized to allow people to erect houses or to execute lease deed or to convert the land into free hold. The Nagar Nigam, Varanasi acted beyond its authority in passing the transfer orders or granting free hold rights. The lease deed dated 17.7.1957 confers no title or interest in favour of the petitioner.

10. A careful perusal of the report of the District Magistrate, Varanasi dated 22/24 May, 1971, Annexure-5 to the counter-affidavit shows that there was some litigation about the title to the said land between the Cantonment Board and Nagar Mahapalika, Varanasi and ultimately that dispute was decided by the order of the Commissioner, Varanasi by order dated 24.1.1957, by which he rejected the claim of the Nagar Mahapalika of title over the land. In the same order it has been held that no appeal was filed against the aforesaid order of the Commissioner and this proves the title of the Government of India over the said land.

11. Very relevant is the letter of the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, Varanasi which is Annexure-CA-12 to the counter-affidavit, admitting that the property never belonged to the State Government and hence the entire proceedings treating it to be Nazul land were illegal and without jurisdiction. In this letter the entire matter has been discussed in great detail. In the Khatauni copy of which is Annexure-CA-13 to the counter-affidavit it is stated that the property belongs to the Union of India.

13. Granting the power of management does not, in our opinion, amounts to transfer of title to the land, which, in our opinion, continues to vest in Government of India. Thus, there is no force in this petition and it is dismissed.

Sale deed of nazul in Uttar Pradesh ,Nazul Rules and Collector

Sale deed of  nazul in Uttar Pradesh ,Nazul Rules and  Collector

Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/506629/

                                                          

Allahabad High Court

Bench: B Chauhan, P Mithal

on 18 August, 2006

Justice Birendra Dikshit ... vs State Of U.P. And Ors 2006 (4) AWC 3618

--------------. The petitioner No. 1 had entered into an agreement to sell dated 28.7.1981 with Shri Jagdish Narain Capoor for the purchase of part of the aforesaid nazul plot and the dwelling unit situate over it. On the basis of the said agreement, petitioner No. 1 with the consent of the lessees applied for freehold rights in respect of house No. 9, Stanley Road with an area of 911 sq. mtrs. forming part of the aforesaid nazul plot in accordance with the terms and conditions of the freehold policy issued vide G.O. dated 1.12.1998.

5. The Collector, Allahabad granted permission of freehold rights as claimed by the petitioner No. 1 and a sale deed dated 19.10.2000 was executed in respect of only 852.20 sq. mtrs. of land. The said sale deed which has duly been executed by the Collector, Allahabad, on behalf of his Excellency, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh clearly provides the area in respect whereof freehold rights have been granted in favour of the petitioner No. 1 and the boundaries thereof providing for 15 feet wide common passage on three sides of the house, i.e.. West, North and South on Stanley Road (Kastoorba Gandhi Marg on the East).

----------------------

11. The Nazul Rules deal with the issue involved herein Rule 5 provides for change of entries in Nazul Register by the Collector on being satisfied that it was so necessary because of the successive transfer or assignment. Rule 5A deals with the procedure prescribed for mutation in the name of transferees in the records accordingly. The mutation is also to be made by the Collector. Sub-rule (4) of Rule 5A would not debar any person from establishing his right to the property in any civil or revenue Court having Jurisdiction Rules 7 to 12 deal with the management of the nazul land Rule 8 provides that the department managing nazul property is bound to forward to the Collector a certificate every year showing the area of nazul properties, the purpose for which it is used and reporting whether any encroachment had been made on any part of such properties. In case of encroachment upon the nazul land used for road purposes, the certificate is required to be forwarded in a prescribed Form wherein encroachments have to be noted specifically. Rule 9 thereof provides for preparing the list of encroachments by the department in respect of each nazul property and to issue certificates in this respect to the Collector. Rule 13 of the said Rules provides that in case of sale or lease of nazul land, it shall be carried out under the Collector's order and in case such land is in occupation of any department other than the revenue department, the nazul shall be transferred to the Collector for the purpose of lease or sale. Rule 74 provides that any administrative-body or local body shall ensure the compliance of the order passed by the Collector requiring the removal of encroachment upon or of unauthorized occupants of nazul. Vide the Criminal Laws (U. P. Amendment) Act, 1961, the provisions of Section 441 of the Indian Penal Code stood amended authorizing the local bodies to register a criminal case for removal of encroachments on nazul land after giving notice to the encroachers or trespassers.

12. Thus, it is evident that every nazul property is under the direct control of the Collector and by no stretch of Imagination, it can be held that the Collector had no jurisdiction to deal such properties or pass an order for removal of encroachment.

13. Thus, we do not see any ground to hold that the Collector had no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint or pass the impugned order.

20. In the instant case, no attempt had been made by the petitioners to adduce any evidence regarding subsistence of their tenancy in respect of any part of the remaining nazul land. Thus, the argument advanced in this respect cannot be entertained.

25. Therefore, Court has to examine the case with this angle also bearing in mind that cause of substantial justice cannot be defeated on mere technicalities.

26. It is also settled legal proposition that writ court should not quash the order if it revives a wrong and illegal order. (Vide Gadde Venkateswara Rao v. Government of Andhra Pradesh and Ors. : Maharaja Chintamani Saranath Shahdeo v. State of Bihar and Ors. : Mallikarjuna Mudhagal Nagappa and Ors. v. State of Karnalaka and Ors. and Chandra Singh (supra)).

29. Thus in view of the above, it is not necessary for the writ court to interfere in a case where a Just order has been passed by an authority having no competence to do so.

30. In view of the above, as the encroachment by the petitioners had been on the land which was outside the land in respect of which the freehold rights had been created in favour of petitioner No. 1 and formed part of the nazul land, the encroachment removed by the Collector, even if without jurisdiction, does not require any interference, whatsoever.

32. In view of the above, we do not find any farce in the petition, it is accordingly dismissed.

TAg- nazul, collector,nazul rules,encroachment ,Policy

New Hotel Policy of Uttar Pradesh- 2008

The Government of Uttar Pradesh has declared an effective hotel policy very recently. The salient features of the hotel policy are:-

• At the time of drafting of master plan, related regulated area and authorities by taking cooperation from Deptt. of Tourism will earmark the land for hotels and this land will be given for hotels. Where master plan has been finalised this action should be taken for vacant space. In authorities (development authority, industrial development authority, housing & development board) where master plan has not been finalised, with the help of Department of Tourism action to be taken to reserve suitable land for hotels keeping in mind the possibilities for tourism and whenever master plans are received then at that time also by taking help from Deptt. of Tourism the land will be reserved for hotels.
• The land earmarked for industry in the master plan should be kept reserved for tourism/hotel for a period of 5 years after the date of advertising the scheme. If no hotel entrepreneur comes forward in the time span of 5 years then in that case the authority will be free to convert the use of this land.
• If the land use conversion of the authority's land is necessary to grant the earmarked plot to hotel industry then the work regarding conversion of land use to be done at a competent level under the rules & regulations of authority on case to case basis.
• In places where there is no development authority, there as per requirement the land of village committee/town area body should be resumed and transferred to Deptt. of Tourism. Deptt. of Tourism can establish a land bank of such lands received from village committee/town area bodies. Deptt. of Tourism will provide this land to tourism industry/hotel, as per requirement. But under the rules there will be a binding that if the land is not used for tourism industry within a period of 5 years then this land will be automatically transferred to the village committee.
• In above places where are no development authorities but municipal bodies are formed, there the District Magistrate may provide the land to entrepreneurs on fixed circle rate or lease.
• Since Tourism has been granted the status of industry in which hotels are also included hence plot should be earmarked and allotted similarly like industries on industrial rates. This policy will be implemented in each district of the state.
• Whenever development authorities form their plans under the purview of Deptt. of industry development then they should also earmark the necessary land for hotels at the appropriate places.
• Hundred percent rebate in luxury tax for next 5 years be given to new hotels from the starting date. Other rebates will be applicable as per industrial policy.
• The allotment of earmarked land for hotel industry will be done only to hotel entrepreneur.
• Hotel entrepreneurs will be provided land on industrial rates by all authorities (Housing Deptt. and Industrial Development Deptt., Noida, Greater Noida). It will be ensured that all hotel entrepreneurs are benefited by this provision, for this above mentioned all authorities will make necessary order/revision in their rules. So that it becomes possible that the land can be made available to hotel entrepreneur on industrial rate.
• Department of Tourism will derive the number of plots as per the city wise need based on star rating of hotel.
• To identify plot a committee will be formed under the Chairmanship of the commissioner.
• Applicant entrepreneurs/society will not get more than one plot in a city.
• At places where more than one authority/society have land, there only one concern department will be made nodal deptt. by the Deptt. of Tourism which will invite application on behalf of all concern department but the final decision regarding allotment/auction, will be taken by the concerned departments only.
• After identification of land for hotel, applications will be invited from hotel/tourism entrepreneurs to provide them land on industrial rates.

Eligibility terms will be fixed for application, which will be following:-

• Only those companies/societies will apply who are registered and connected with the hotel industry and have earlier experience in this regard.
• In hotel policy eligibility terms have also been fixed in which 5 star and other level project will be given to those hotel entrepreneurs who have an average turn over of Rs. 100 crore or above in the last 3 years, positive net worth and minimum 10 years experience in hotel profession.
• For 4-Star and other 4-Star level project the rule will be following:-
• Average turn over of Rs. 75 crore or above in the last 3 years, positive net worth and minimum 10 years experience in hotel profession. Like wise for 3-Star and other level project an average turn over of Rs. 50 crore on above in the last 3 years, positive net worth and minimum 5 years experience in hotel profession will be required.
• In authorities where there is provision of industrial plots there as per the present time policy the allotment of industrial plots in case of more than one applicant will be done on the basis of suitability can be ascertained on the basis of their experience, turn over and net worth basis. And keeping eligible applicant rating in descending order on the basis of hotel plots being made available in a city, based on their priority the plot be allotted. This rating 5 star (or above), 4- Star and 3- Star categories can be done separately.
• For each hotel the applicant company's ownership or under the management will have points as under:-
  
  A- Experience in hotel profession will have maximum 50 points
• 5-Star or above - 10 points per hotel
• 4-Star - 7 points per hotel.
• 3- Star hotel- 5 points per hotel
• If the hotel has a tie up/contract with an international chain or the applicant himself is of international chain then for each such hotel 3 additional points will be provided.
• B- For turn over maximum 25 points will be fixed.
• 1 point will be fixed per 10 crore turn over.
• C- For net worth maximum 25 points will be fixed.
• 1 point will be fixed per 4 crore net worth. 

Calculation of Stamp duty on instrument of nazul freehold in year 1999 and 2000 in the state of Uttar Pradesh

                                Nazul Land
'Nazul' means any land or building which, being the property of Government is not administered as a State property under the control of the Land Reforms Commissioner or the Forest or the irrigation Department, or is not under the control of the Military, Postal, Telegraph, Railway or other purely Central Government Department. It means properties i.e., land or buildings in or near towns or villages which have escheated or lapsed to the Government. In further, in absence of appropriate heir, the appropriate State or the Government of India in an appropriate case became the owner of the land. Article 296 of the Constitution of India speaks about the property accruing by escheat or lapse or as an bona vacantia for want of a rightful owner.(Harish Tandon vs State Of U.P. And Anr.2006 (3) AWC 2829)

                               Rate of Stamp Duty


(Harish Tandon vs State Of U.P. And Anr. 2006 (3) AWC 2829 Para 18 )

As per the Government Order No. 'K.S.V.-5-5808/11-99-500 (80)/98' of Kar Evam Sansthagat Vitta Anubhag-5 dated 11th January, 1999 issued by the Principal Secretary, U.P. Government, the stamp duty amount (registration charges) for registration of the freehold sale deed(s) is payable at the rate of 10% of the freehold charges. The U.P. Government till now has issued various Government Order(s) to continue the rebate of stamp duty amount (registration charges) for the registration of the freehold sale deed(s) without any break and the aforesaid provision for the registration of the freehold sale deed(s) at the rate of 10% of the freehold charges is applicable till date. Since the freehold sale deed(s) of the Nazul Site(s) executed by the District Maglstrate(s) and the Development Authorities particularly the District Magistrate, Allahabad and the Allahabad Development Authority, Allahabad have been/are presently being registered at stamp duty amount (registration charges) of 10% of the freehold charges in accordance with the aforesaid Government Order dated 11 th January, 1999 and its successive Government Order(s), the freehold sale deed(s) of the Nazul Site Nos. 32C, 139 and 139B, Civil Station, Allahabad should also be registered at the stamp duty amount (registration charges) of 10% of the freeholdcharges.

                                            classification of deeds
1-   Under the provisions of the Nazul manual, if any nazul land is transferred by way of sale or lease etc., execution of deed is required and stamp duty is chargeable as a conveyance as laid down in the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (C.A.G Report year 2006-07Para 4.2.9.2)
http://www.cag.gov.in/html/cag_reports/up/rep_2007/rev_chap_4.pdf
2-   Nazul land is land held by Government in public trust, in perpetuity, the possession of which can be transferred in the form of lease or by sale. The district magistrate of the respective district is the overall incharge of the management andadministration of nazul land. In Lucknow, the work of management is entrusted to the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) and in other places to the nagar nigams/nagar palika parishads. Rule 67 of Nazul Manual, read with Rule 22, prohibits granting of lease in perpetuity of nazul land. In such cases, where lease was granted in perpetuity or period of lease was not mentioned, a maximum period of 90 years can be considered for lease. If any sale deed is executed, cost of land is to be recovered on the basis of market rate and stamp duty as a conveyance is chargeable..(C.A.G. Report 2005-2006 Para 5.5
http://www.cag.gov.in/html/cag_reports/up/rep_2006/rev_chap_5.pdf)
                                         
3- Under the provisions of the IS Act, stamp duty on an instrument depends upon the substance of the transaction recorded in the instrument and not on any title, description or nomenclature given to the instrument by the executant.(C.A.G. Report 2005-2006 Para 5.3
http://www.cag.gov.in/html/cag_reports/up/rep_2006/rev_chap_5.pdf)

                                             disposal of nazul land

A-Under the provisions of the Nazul manual, nazul land can only be leased out.Under the provisions of rule 22 of Nazul manual, lease for nazul land shall not ordinarily be for a period shorter than 30 years in the first instance and shall, in all cases, provide for renewal after expiry of the first and subsequent terms upto a maximum period of 90 years. The granting of lease in perpetuity in respect of any nazul land on any term is prohibited. Rule 67 of Nazul Manual, read with Rule 22, prohibits granting of lease in perpetuity of nazul land. In such cases, where lease was granted in perpetuity or period of lease was not mentioned, a maximum period of 90 years can be considered for lease. Under the above provisions, the nazul land let out on lease for a stipulated period is required to be evacuated as and when the concerned lease terminates. On 1st December, 1998 a further Government order being No.
'2268/9-AA-4-98-704N/97' of Awas Anubhag-4 was issued by the Secretary, U.P.Government. As per such Government order, two categories of freehold charges were fixed as per the land use earmarked in the prevailing Master Plan, for'Residential' at the rate of 40% of the applicable Circle Rate of land(s) andfor 'Non-Residential' at the rate of 60% of the applicable Circle Rate of
land(s) and not as per the land usage mentioned in the lease deed or actual usage. The aforesaid Government Order dated 1st December. 1998 also states that a discount of 30% shall be given on the freehold amount where the Circle Rate of land(s) has been amended between 30th November, 1990 and 29th November, 1991 and further a discount of 20% on the freehold charges shall be allowed in case of
one time payment.With the introduction of the new Nazul Policy, 1998, nazul land can be disposed off by way of sale. If any sale deed is executed, cost of land is to be recovered on the basis of market rate and stamp duty as a conveyance on circle rate of 1991


B- Hon'ble Supreme Court in V. Karnal Durai v. District Collector
Tuticorin and Anr. . it has been held that if during the pendency of an application for grant of a mining lease the rules are amended, the application is to be decided as per the amended rules.
C-Honourable H.C Allahabad in S.N. Lal vs State Of U.P. And Ors. 2007 (2) AWC 1491 held as below
    Para 7-----------further the free hold deed executed in favour of the respondent No. 5 was subject to the final decision in the case of Satya Narain Kapoor v. State of U.P. and Ors. hence it is humbly submitted that the deponent has bona fide followed the order passed by this Hon'ble Court.
   Para 19--------- The officer has acted arbitrarily. He adopted an uncalled for procedure-which reflects upon his integrity. His approach to the case has compelled the petitioner to go through the litigation agony, loss of time, and money apart from harassment.
   Para20-------We mould the relief and set aside the order titled 'Minutes of Proceedings' dated 20.12.2004 and declare that sale deed dated 21.12.2004 (between respondent Nos. 3 and 5) shall remain in abeyance/inoperative till final decision on the question of grant of the freehold in favour of the petitioner; and in case it is decided in the petitioner's favour, the respondent No. 5 shall be entitled to the refund of stamp duty on said sale deed in her favour.
     Para 23. Writ petition stands partly allowed to the extent indicated above with cost-which we quantify at Rs. 25,000 to be paid by respondent No. 1 with liberty to realise it from the officer concerned.
D- All G.O of Nazul Land was introduced during the pendency of the proceedings and sub judice as Honourable Allahabad H.C held in Harish Tandon vs State Of U.P. And Anr. on 30/3/2006 ( 2006 (3) AWC 2829 D.B)
para 32 . Save and except Government order of the year 1995 no Government order is static. All the Government orders were time to time reviewed irrespective of the facturn that one of such reviewed Government order of the year 1998 was or still is subjudice before the Supreme Court or before the High Court.

Para 42. . The Government orders as reviewed time to time in the year 1998, which is under challenge, and the Government order of the year 2002, which was introduced during the pendency of the proceeding, appear to be prospective in nature.
Pendente lite

principle of pendente lite nihil innoventur (pending a litigation nothing new should be introduced) as in Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882.

( the matters pending at the Supreme Court.)

State of Uttar Pradesh itself was the appellant at the Supreme Court :-

A- 15-10-1997 High Court in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 32605 of 1991, Satya Narain Kapoor v. State of U.P. and Ors.. The High Court held therein, apart from other points, 'nazul' land cannot be converted to freehold land. On the Special Leave Petitions of the State of U. P., the Supreme Court passed ad interim orders on different dates. In effect, the orders of the Supreme Court desire that status quo be maintained.

 B- 1-12-98 Government Orders as a policy, on general land transfers of lease lands, published in a booklet inviting applications for conversion into freehold. In the booklet, the State have made the following clause.

"In this connection, I have been directed to say that the steps be taken under the aforesaid amendment and modification being made applicable with immediate effect, and the policy should be given wide circulation and publication so that the concerned parties may understand its implied provisions and receive its benefits.

All proceedings for freehold will be subject to the orders being passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in S.L.P. No. 1557-59/98 filed by the State of U.P. against the decision of the Hon'ble High Court, dated 15-10-1997 in Writ Petition No. 32605/91, Satya Narain Kapoor v. State Government and Ors.

This order is being issued with the concurrence of the Finance Department under its D.O. No. E-6-2286/Ten-98 Dated 28-11-1998."

C- (Harish Tandon vs State Of U.P. And Anr. 2006 (3) AWC 2829 Para 2)

Originally the writ petition was filed by the petitioner on 27th January, 1999 praying inter alia for quashing the Government order dated 1st December, 1998, suitable order for conversion of land after disposal of S.L.P. No. 1157-59 of 1998 filed by the State before the Supreme Court, and orders as regards valuation, stamp duty, etc

D -26-10-2004 the Supreme Court set aside the judgment and order of the High Court by its judgment and order dated 26th October, 2004 and remanded the matter to the High Court for consideration afresh.

E - 21-03-2007 writ of Satya Narain Kapoor vs State Of U.P. And Ors. accordingly dismissed. Interim order, if any, stands vacated

F - Utilisation of leased land for the purpose other than that set forth Under the provisions of Rule 20 of the Nazul manual, every lease or sale of nazul land at concessional rates under Rule 18 or 19 of the rules shall be subject to the condition that if the land leased or sold is not utilised within a period to be fixed by the State Government or for the purpose for which it was given, the State Government has the power to cancel the lease or sale and
resume possession thereof. C.A.G Report year 2006-07Para 4.2.9.1)
http://www.cag.gov.in/html/cag_reports/up/rep_2007/rev_chap_4.pdf




   

A fast

A fast unto life

By M.J. Akbar

MAHATMA Gandhi flagellated himself with 17 fasts. They were not all fasts unto the death; they could be time-specific. This did not reduce the risk to his life, for 21 days without any nourishment or medical intervention could drag a frail man with an average weight of some 110 pounds to death’s door.

The British establishment always treated Gandhi with contempt (exceptions like Lord Irwin apart); and as defeat loomed in the 1940s this evolved into unmitigated loathing, not least because an extraordinary arsenal of non-violence, moral momentum and an unprecedented national awakening had driven history’s mightiest empire into limp impotence.
When Gandhi started his liberation movement, the ranking Indian within the establishment, Lord Sinha, confidently averred that the British Raj would last for 400 years. Thirty years later, the last viceroy with any authority Lord Wavell (Mountbatten was a mere midwife, and left the motherland bleeding) had this to say in his diary on Sept 26, 1946: “The more I see of that old man [Gandhi] the more I regard him as an unscrupulous old hypocrite; he would shrink from no violence or bloodletting to achieve his ends … he is an exceeding to achieve his ends … he is an exceedingly shrewd, obstinate, domineering, double-tongued, single-minded politician.”
You have to hate someone with unbelievable intensity to stitch together such a farrago of lies. Wavell wrote this just after his beloved British Raj had killed some four million Bengalis through another man-made famine.
Paradoxically, many of the British on the second rung admired the man who had made it his life’s work to destroy their empire. They understood that if they had been born Indian they would have been with Gandhi.
On Jan 11, 1924, the superintendent of Pune jail, where Gandhi was interned, rushed the Mahatma to Sassoon hospital for an
emergency appendicitis operation. The electricity went off when Col Maddock, the surgeon-general, was operating on the night of Jan 12, with the help of a British nurse; he completed his duty with torchlight. Gandhi thanked them for saving his life, and they were proud to do so.
The British constituted only half the challenge before Gandhi; the other, and bitter, half were fellow Indians. Gandhi knew that unless he could exorcise, or at least contain, the evil of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims, even success could become ash in his mouth.
He had no instrument of coercion to use against fellow Indians, but he had a secret weapon: moral blackmail. He could hold his own life hostage through a fast while Indians sorted out between themselves whether the ransom, Gandhi’s life, was worth paying. Over and over again, India paid up, for no Indian, Hindu or Muslim, wanted the sin of a mahatma’s death on his head.
It was in 1924, the same year as his appendicitis, that Gandhi went on a 21-day fast after the Kohat riots. Very deliberately, he chose to fast at the home of the great leader of the Khilafat movement, Maulana Mohammad Ali, in Delhi. By the time he sipped some orange juice on Oct 8, the fever of violence had passed, at least for the moment.
The instinctive reaction of governments to any such fast is cynicism. A government might be, in fact, as weak as a terminal patient in the cancer ward, but will delude itself, till its dying breath, that to surrender before a man ready to sacrifice his life will make future governance impossible.
The Congress, which had wept through Gandhi’s fasts, refused to compromise when a Gandhian went on a fast unto death to demand the creation of Andhra Pradesh in 1950. The Gandhian died, and Andhra was born.
The Akali Sants put fasts to effective public use during their movement for a Sikh-majority Punjab. The Marxists laughed about Mamata Banerjee’s weight when she went on a fast in Calcutta to protest against their land policy; on May 13, when the Assembly election results are out, Mamata will have the last laugh.
A fast succeeds not because it bends a government to its will, but because it is the yeast that foments the rise of a populace.
Anna Hazare’s fast in Delhi was not meant to bring down a government, its solitary purpose was, or should be, to resurrect an India that had become so supine that it slept indolently while the wealth of this nation was being looted by a handful of politicians and their acolytes. Anna Hazare was not waiting to see how many corrupt, hypocritical ministers came to his side; he wants to know how many Anna Hazares emulated him on a street corner in front of their homes. He has asked just one question: do you, fellow Indians, have a conscience?
If the answer is yes, then rise and save your nation from the death-grip of corruption. This was a fast for India’s life.
The writer is editor of The Sunday Guardian, published from Delhi, India on Sunday, published from London and editorial director, India Today and Headlines Today.
Gandhi was a visionary, but not one ever trapped by illusion. He did not believe that a fast would persuade the British to pack up and leave the most lucrative part of their far-flung empire, the jewel of their crown, just because one obstinate, half-clad, toothless native had decided to stop drinking goat’s milk for a few days.

Hindu marriages: HC ruling upsets settled law

Hindu marriages: HC ruling upsets settled lawby Anil Malhotra

THE recent judgement of the Bombay High Court setting aside the parallel proceedings for divorce of the Family Court, Pune, and upholding a divorce decree passed by the Court of Oakland, State of Michigan, USA, dissolving a Hindu marriage on the principle of breakdown, has evoked a new stream of thought with which this writer differs. The verdict, Kashmira Kale vs. Kishore Kumar Mohan Kale, 2011 (1) Hindu Law Reporter (HLR), 333, lending sanctity to a US Divorce decree in preference to proceedings under the Hindu Marriage Act between the same parties upsets the settled law.
The parties married in Mumbai in 2005 according to Hindu rites lived in the US and intermittently visited Mumbai and Pune. In September 2008, the wife filed divorce proceedings in the US whose jurisdiction was challenged by the husband in the US. Simultaneously, in October 2008, the husband filed a divorce petition in the Pune Family Court, claiming it to be the competent forum for adjudication of their dispute. The husband did not pursue the wife’s divorce petition in the US any further and in January 2009, the US court dissolved the marriage and divided the assets of the parties.
However, the Pune Family Court in September 2009 held that it still had the jurisdiction to try the husband’s petition for divorce in India. In appeal, the Bombay High Court set aside the Family Court order and upheld the US divorce decree dissolving the Hindu marriage.
The conclusions drawn by the Bombay High Court that the parties were domiciled in the US and hence the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) cannot apply to them is per se erroneous. The HMA’s non-application to Hindus was misconstrued and the application of the breakdown principle without considering the written statement of the husband challenging the US court’s jurisdiction were factors which did not lend a imprimatur to the foreign decree which did not take into consideration the HMA’s provisions under which the parties were married.
Noticing that Section 1 (2) of the HMA applies only to Hindus in the territories to which it applies but not considering that it also “applies to Hindus domiciled in the territories to which this Act extends who are outside the said territories” left the contention only half noticed. In addition, Section 2 of the HMA prescribing application of the Act to Hindus, irrespective of domicile, nationality or citizenship, renders the judgement fallacious. Earlier precedents on the point enunciated by different High Courts stipulate that the HMA applies to all Hindus irrespective of domicile or residence if they have married in India according to Hindu rites. Thus, it has been held that the HMA has extra-territorial application as a Hindu carries with him his personal law of marriage and courts in India have jurisdiction to try their matrimonial disputes regardless of change of nationality or new domicile.
The Bombay High Court in Sondur Rajini Vs. Sondur Gopal, 2006(2) HLR 475, had held that the HMA provisions do not cease to apply on change of domicile which is determined when the parties tie the nuptial knot under the HMA and not on the date when an application is made for matrimonial reliefs. In Naveen Chander Advani Vs. Leena Advani 2005 (2) HLR 582, the Bombay High Court held that the Pune Family Court wrongly declined to entertain a matrimonial petition relating to a marriage where parties who last resided and married in the US according to Hindu rites and ceremonies as the Family Court has jurisdiction to deal with matters under the HMA.
Equally flawed is the Bombay High Court’s view that since the parties last resided together in Michigan, the US court has territorial jurisdiction to decide their divorce dispute. This conclusion falls foul of the settled law laid down by the Supreme Court in Jagir Kaur vs. Jaswant Singh, AIR 1963 SC 1521 that prescribing the limits of jurisdiction, speaking of last residence of a person with his wife, can only mean his last residence in India. It does not imply his residing with her in a foreign country for an Act cannot confer jurisdiction on a foreign court.
The Bombay High Court in Meera vs. Anil Kumar 1992 (2) HLR 284 held that “last resided” in Section 19 of HMA implies last residence in India and the High Court in India within whose jurisdiction the parties last resided together can take cognisance of the matter.
Flowing from the same stream of thought, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that any temporary residence would confer jurisdiction to try the matrimonial dispute. This settled view militates against the erred conclusion of the Bombay High Court that temporary stay at Pune or Mumbai could not mean last residence in India as parties last resided together in the US.
Above all, the Bombay High Court’s view disagrees with the Supreme Court’s celebrated view in Y. Narasimha Rao vs. Y. Venkata Lakshmi, 1991 (3) SCC 451 that the jurisdiction assumed by the foreign court as well as the grounds on which the relief is granted must be in accordance with the matrimonial law under which the parties are married.
Three exceptions were culled out to this rule by the Supreme Court. First, permanent foreign residence and invoking of relief on a ground available in matrimonial law under which parties were married. Secondly, voluntary submission to foreign jurisdiction coupled with contest on merits abroad on grounds available under matrimonial law under which parties were married. And thirdly, parties unconditionally consent to grant of relief although the jurisdiction of foreign court is not in accordance with the provisions of matrimonial law of parties.
The Apex Court in Neerja Saraph vs. Jayant Saraph 1994 (6) SCC 641, thereafter had suggested feasibility of a legislation to hold that “no marriage between an NRI and an India woman which has taken place in India may be annulled by a foreign court”. Not noticing the Supreme Court’s above precedent, the recent view of the Bombay High Court per se appears to be disagreeable if not per incuriam.
With due deference, the Bombay High Court order does not agree with the precedent, adapt to Hindu law of marriage of the parties or is it conclusive. Parties may be treated as divorced in the US and still married in India. The line of action adopted in a number of matrimonial disputes in the Punjab and Haryana High Court is most useful to quote. Limping marriages are taken before the Mediation and Conciliation Centre at the High Court premises where the hatchet is peacefully buried and matters are amicably compromised to convert the matrimonial feuds to divorce petitions by mutual consent. Matters thereafter rest without contest on written settlements. Warring claims are put to sleep harmoniously.
This is the better path than allowing foreign courts to decide on Hindu marriage disputes without conflict of laws. Indian courts are better suited to decide them without foreign interference. Domestic law must prevail. 

Author of “India, NRIs and the Law”, and co-author of “Acting for Non-resident Indian Clients,” the writer is Supreme Court Advocate and Member, UT NRI Cell, Chandigarh

Correcting distortions in governance

Correcting distortions in governance
The ultimate aim is to ensure that it is the citizens who shall govern and not the administration, with due focus on accountability
by Pramod Kumar
GOVERNANCE : For whom and for what? This question normally gets lost in the processes, procedures and application of technology. To illustrate, the application of unique ID numbers, no doubt, shall provide efficiency, but only to the existing process of undignified and exploitative exchange between the citizens and the government. These rules of exchange in many spheres do not protect the rights and the entitlements of the people on the margins besides treating a fairly large section of the citizenry in an undignified manner.
Rules of governance have become so overtly violative that the system has been rendered non-functional. Earlier, an easy explanation used to be the prevalence of corruption, high transaction costs and lack of transparency. Interestingly, even corruption has ceased to perform one of its foremost functions, i.e. facilitation and efficiency. This has been exemplified in the preparation for the Commonwealth Games, wherein even large-scale corruption could not induce efficiency. A clear message emerges that the system has ceased to be functional. Consequently, the Army was reportedly assigned the task of killing mosquitoes to facilitate a Dengue-free hosting of the Commonwealth Games.
The first initiative is to be taken to restore the identity of the citizens. Even after 63 years of Independence, citizens have to prove their identity. This mistrust has been institutionalised to the extent that even to prove their name, they have to seek affirmation from a gazetted officer of the government. For declarations relating to their profession, income, caste, residence proof, etc., affidavits are to be given on legal papers sworn before a Magistrate or public notary. Even to procure ration cards, electricity, sewerage and water connection, birth and death certificates, applications for admission to the educational institutions, affidavits attested by the gazetted officer or third party or public notary, or Magistrate have to be produced. The govern-mentality continues to treat citizens as colonial subjects. However, most of these affidavits are local inventions and are not required by law.
However, the ‘govern-mentality’ of mistrust has resisted any attempt to repose trust in its own citizens by accepting self-declarations as reliable and authentic. The Punjab Government by its order discontinued the practice of submission of affidavits unless required by law.
Further, the services are rendered to the citizens not as a matter of right but as a dole. To reverse this, a legislation has been proposed by the Governance Commission to make it mandatory for administration to serve the people. The purpose is not merely to provide corruption -free and harassment-free services but to send the signal that it is citizens who shall govern and not the administration. In other words, the main focus is on accountability rather than efficiency.
The government accepted the Commission’s recommendation to legislate an act to ensure delivery of services as a right to the citizen. It includes around 48 services from the Departments of Revenue, Local Self-Government, Electricity, Police, Food and Civil Supplies, Health, Transport, etc. This will transform the terms of interaction between the citizens and the administration.
Further, the administrative division of population on the basis of caste and religion has multiplied social cleavages and led to the denial of full citizenship. The decision to conduct caste-based census is a sign of diversity insensitivity that shall only produce fractured identity as a citizen.
Recently, another initiative to protect the girl child, pregnant women was tracked to prohibit them from seeking sex selection tests to abort a female foetus. As this is violative of the citizen’s privacy, it has the potential to provide license to those who treat women as commodities. The Commission has suggested that the government should enforce law on private and public sector medical practitioners and at the same time attempt to enhance the value of the girl child by ensuring tracking of the girl child through her life cycle from birth to death and interweave incentive-oriented schemes to check both female foeticide and cultural neglect.
The pervasiveness of cultural neglect of the girl child has been proved beyond doubt by the provisional census data 2011. The provisional census data have shown how sex ratio at birth has shown some improvement, but child sex ratio (0-6 years) has shown a major decline.
Along with loss of identity, lack of respect and dignity is reflected in everyday interactions of the people with the government. The spatial disconnect experienced by the citizens in the police stations in particular and the District Collectorates in general, is more pronounced. The visit to these spaces gives a feeling of alien space and a sense of loss of dignity and identity. And, interactions with the police and consequent loss of dignity has been described succinctly in the Fifth Report of the National Police Commission (November 1980). The Commission expressed anguish that the 1902 Fraser Commission’s observation that ‘people’ now may not dread the police, but they certainly dread getting involved with it in any capacity, continues to be valid.
This political interference which has become an accepted part of the political culture (not only in Punjab but in many other states) has produced glaring distortions in the practice of governance leading to dilution of hierarchy, dysfunctional internal accountability mechanisms and patronage-centric governance. To illustrate, the average tenure in 2009 of a Station House Officer is around six months, which was about seven months in 2004. In the case of a Deputy Superintendent of Police, the same is ten months and one year for the District Superintendent of Police.
Therefore, it is suggested that the tenure of the police personnel may be fixed in consonance with the Police Act and a performance audit report may be considered as the basis for transfers and postings. The language of power is different from the language of justice. The institutions of justice delivery understand with clarity the language of power and material rather than listening to the feeble voices of the dispossessed.
A third set of prerequisites relates to productivity, i.e. to engage people with the system in a productive manner and provide conducive conditions to nurture people’s capacity to be productive and their ability to exercise some degree of control over their lives.
To illustrate, in the section on Social Security and Welfare Programmes, it has been brought out how the social security programmes like Pensions and Shagun are given as doles to a large section of the ineligible population. This has become a practice with successive governments. Consequently, it leads to wastage to the tune of about Rs 220 crore and Rs 40 crore in the case of old-age pension and Shagun schemes respectively. The need is to identify the deserving beneficiaries as also to ensure that its reach is periodically evaluated.
Instead of productive engagement of the citizen, a culture of sharing of the spoils is reinforced. Subsidies directed at the poor are given as doles and subsidies directed to protect the profits are described as ‘rescue’ packages.
A fourth set of prerequisites relates to the allocation of roles to various institutions. Since administration is compartmentalised in the departments and each department has its own priorities, if a particular department’s priorities take precedence over the other, that is likely to lead to dissonance within the system. There is no dearth of examples to demonstrate this point.
In 2004-05, the Department of Finance of Punjab, in its overactive commitment to impose fiscal management, came out with a scheme to contract untrained ‘teachers’ from the same village to cut government expenditure. As a result, the quality of teaching further deteriorated and, later, all the contractual ‘teachers’ launched protest and demanded that they should be trained as teachers and that their services be regularised. This scheme was spearheaded by fiscal management framework rather than access to equity concern in quality education.
As a result, the inability to maintain delicate functional balance between the institutions produced a major crisis in governance. The tendency to empower institutions with ad hoc license has a clear message, i.e. to kill poison with poison and letting the patient die. This has made governance less a matter of politics, more of an administrative policy and the discretionary political interference.

The writer is Chairperson, Punjab Governance Reforms Commission and Director, Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh

The Mukund Bhawan Trust

What’s the deal

• Government land worth crores in Pune allegedly transferred to Mukund Bhawan Trust controlled by NCP chief Pawar's relatives
• Land transfer done in 1988 by the then Collector of Pune Shreeniwas Patil, who became a NCP MP in 1999
• The Trust, having Pawar's daughter and son-in-law as office-bearers, is developing an IT park along with Balwa's firm

After scoring a major victory over the Union government, which conceded his demand to set up a joint committee for drafting the Jan Lokpal Bill, social activist Anna Hazare has trained his guns on Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar.
A team of activists, lawyers and other experts associated with Hazare's Bhrashtrachar Virodhi Abhiyan (BVA) are looking into a multi-crore rupee deal under which government land in Pune allegedly transferred to a trust controlled by Pawar's relatives has turned into an IT park.
Controversial developer Shahid Balwa, currently in jail for his role in the 2G scam, is building a hotel in a portion of the property.
RTI activists who have accessed information on the deal approached Hazare with documents while he was fasting in New Delhi and the social activists have asked his team to obtain more information on the deal, BVA sources confirmed.
The controversial deal concerns a piece of property near the historic Yerwada jail in Pune, which was at one time part of the Pune cantonment. The title of the 326-acre property has been in dispute since 1950 and in 1988, the then collector of Pune, Shreeniwas Patil, handed over its rights to the Mukund Bhawan Trust controlled by the relatives and associates of Pawar.
Patil went on to join politics and became a NCP MP in 1999 after defeating Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan from the Karad seat.
The Mukund Bhawan Trust, which had Pawar's daughter Surpriya and son-in-law Sadanand Sule as office-bearers, is developing an IT park and a five-star hotel in association with Balwa's DB Realty, according to information unearthed by the activists under the Right to Information Act.
The issue figured in the Maharashtra Assembly with Leader of the Opposition Eknath Khadse labelling it as a Rs 15,000-crore scam. Khadse demanded that Chief Minister Chavan order a CBI inquiry in the matter.

Mahamrityunjaya Mantra

In the Rig-Veda, 4/52/12 the mantra has been recorded as:

ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम्‌।

उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनांन्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात्‌।

“I pray and seek the blessings of the three-eyed Lord Shiva. May I become free from the bondage of death just like a nourishing melon with your blessings, and not with the celestial nectar”.

Mahamrityunjaya Mantra energised with the Mritsanjivini Vidya devised by Shukracharya. This is called Mritsanjeevani Mahamrityunjaya Mantra:

मृतसंजीवनी महामृत्युंजय मंत्र

ॐ ह्रौं जूं सः। ॐ भूर्भवः स्वः। ॐ त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम्‌।

उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनांन्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय माऽमृतात्‌। स्वः भुवः भूः ॐ। सः जूं ह्रौं ॐ ।

यह मंत्र सर्वाधिक फल देने वाला माना गया है। कुछ लघु मंत्र भी प्रयोग कर सकते हैं, जैसे -

त्र्यक्षरी अर्थात तीन अक्षरों वाला – ॐ जूं सः

पंचाक्षरी ॐ हौं जूं सः ॐ

It can sure avert death if Mahamrityunjaya Mantra chanted properly.
मंत्र जप की पूर्वनिर्धारित संख्या पूर्ण होने पर उस संख्या की ददांश संख्या में महामृत्युंजय मंत्र के अंत में “स्वाहा” शब्द जोड़कर आहुतियाँ देते हुए हवन करें ।
 It is customary to chant the mantra 125 thousand times over a period to promote long life. The responsibility to chanting the mantra can be entrusted to a responsible Brahmin priest.
In the Padampuran there is a mention of the Mahamrituanjaya mantra as composed in hymn form by Maharishi Markanday.

जनलोकपाल विधेयक का मसौदा

इसमें राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर लोकपाल और प्रांतीय स्तर पर लोकायुक्त नियुक्त करने की मांग की गई है। बिल के अनुसार राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर बने लोकपाल में अध्यक्ष सहित दस सदस्यीय समिति होगी। इनमें कम से कम चार विधि विशेषज्ञ शामिल रहेंगे। यह लोकपाल सर्वोच्च न्यायालय, चुनाव आयोग आदि की तरह स्वतंत्र संवैधानिक संस्था होगी। इस लोकपाल को भ्रष्टाचार से जुड़े सभी मामलों की जांच के अधिकार रहेंगे। सीवीसी, एंटी करप्शन ब्यूरो, सीबीआई समेत सभी एजेंसियां व संस्थाएं इसके अधीन होंगी। प्रस्ताव के अनुसार यह लोकपाल किसी भी मामले की जांच अधिकतम एक साल में पूरी करेगा और अगले एक साल में सजा दिलाएगा। राशन कार्ड, मतदाता पहचान पत्र बनाने से लेकर एफआईआर न लिखने समेत सभी मामलों की शिकायत इस लोकपाल से की जा सकेगी। सरकारों को शायद लोकपाल के इस प्रारूप से इतना एतराज न होता अगर चयन का अधिकार उनके पास होता। इस जन लोकपाल के सदस्यों का चुनाव सरकार नहीं कर सकेगी। प्रस्तावित प्रारूप के अनुसार इसके लिए राज्यसभा व लोकसभा के अध्यक्षों, सर्वोच्च न्यायालय के दो वरिष्ठतम न्यायाधीश, उच्च न्यायालयों के दो वरिष्ठतम मुख्य न्यायाधीश, भारतीय मूल के सभी नोबल पुरस्कार विजेता, अंतिम दो मैग्सेसे पुरस्कार विजेता, राष्ट्रीय मानवाधिकार आयोग के अध्यक्ष, सीएजी, मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त, भारत रत्न से सम्मानित लोग व पूर्व लोकपाल चयन समिति के सदस्य गणों को मिलाकर एक चयन समिति बनाई जाएगी। यह समिति जनता के साथ सामंजस्य बिठाकर सदस्यों का चुनाव करेगी। चयन प्रक्रिया पूरी तरह पारदर्शी रहेगी। सारा पेच इसी पर फंसा है।

Hotel,of,by and forलक्जरी फाइव स्टार होटलों से चलती है।

, नई दिल्ली भारत की 72 फीसदी आबादी आज भी गांवों में बसती है, मगर यहां की सरकार लक्जरी फाइव स्टार होटलों से चलती है। विभिन्न मंत्रालयों के 13 प्रभाग और विभाग दिल्ली के दो महंगे होटलों, होटल सम्राट और होटल जनपथ में किराए के दफ्तरों में चल रहे हैं। हर महीने जनता की गाढ़ी कमाई के करीब साढ़े तीन करोड़ रुपये इन दफ्तरों के किराए पर खर्च हो जाते हैं। सूचना के अधिकार के इस्तेमाल से सरकार के फालतू खर्च की यह तस्वीर सामने आई है। सरकारी दफ्तरों में काम कर रहे बाबुओं का तर्क है कि दिल्ली में जगह की कमी के कारण होटल किराए पर लेने पड़े। चाणक्यपुरी स्थित होटल सम्राट में ग्रामीण विकास मंत्रालय का प्रभाग 21 जनवरी 2010 से है। होटल के 1800 वर्ग फीट के रूम नंबर 561 में यह दफ्तर है। इसका किराया सात लाख 74 हजार रुपये प्रति महीना है। जबकि मंत्रालय का मुख्य दफ्तर कृषि भवन में है। मंत्री और सचिव कृषि भवन में बैठते हैं। इसी तरह पंचायती राज्य मंत्रालय ने भी अगस्त 2006 से होटल सम्राट की छठीं मंजिल पर साढ़े पांच हजार वर्ग फीट की जगह किराए पर ले रखी है। 195 रुपये प्रति वर्ग फुट के हिसाब से यह जगह दो साल के लिए ली गई थी। 2008 के बाद इसे आगे बढ़ा दिया गया और अब इस जगह का किराया बढ़कर 210 रुपये प्रति वर्ग फुट हो गया है। 2006 से अब तक मंत्रालय करीब सवा छह करोड़ रुपये यहां का किराया दे चुका है। दिल्ली के एक सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता जे.एस. वालिया ने आरटीआइ के तहत यह जानकारी हासिल की है। वालिया ने बताया, एक दिन मैं सम्राट होटल गया, तो होटल के बाहर खड़ी लाल बत्तियों की कई सरकारी गाडि़यों को देखकर दंग रह गया। मैंने इसके बारे में जानने की कोशिश की तो आधी-अधूरी जानकारी दी गई। अब आरटीआइ से मिली जानकारी चौंकाने वाली है। क्या ऐसे दफ्तर फाइव स्टार होटलों में खोलना जरूरी हैं। जबकि दिल्ली में कई किफायती जगह भी उपलब्ध हैं।

चार धाम,बद्रीनाथ धाम

चार धाम,

 देवप्रयाग यदि आप अपना नाम बताएं और सामने बैठा पंडा-पुरोहित आपकी कई पीढि़यों के नाम बता दे तो आपको अचरज अवश्य होगा। जी हां, बद्रीनाथ धाम पहुंचने वाले श्रद्धालु चाहें तो अपने पुरखों की जानकारी पलक झपकते ही हासिल कर सकते हैं। दरअसल बद्रीनाथ के पंडे बहियों मे यहां आने वाले यात्रियों का रिकार्ड रखते आ रहे हैं और यह लेखा किसी अनमोल धरोहर से कम नहीं है। बद्रीनाथ में आने वाले तीर्थयात्रियों की पूजा-पाठ का दायित्व देवप्रयाग (टिहरी गढ़वाल) का पुरोहित समाज संभालता है। इनकी बहियों में राजा रजवाड़ों से लेकर स्वतंत्र भारत का इतिहास सिमटा हुआ है। सत्रहवीं शताब्दी से बहियों का प्रचलन सामने आया था। इससे पहले भोजपत्रों, ताम्रपत्रों का चलन था। देवप्रयाग नगर सहित 42 गांव के पुरोहितों की बहियों में भारत के चप्पे-चप्पे की जानकारी समाई हुई है। बदरीनाथ यात्रा पर आए तीर्थयात्रियों का नाम जाति, गोत्र, वंश, जिला, गांव, मोहल्ला सबकी जानकारी इनमें है। पुरोहितों के उपनाम भी उनके क्षेत्रानुसार यहां प्रचलन में है दिल्ली क्षेत्र का तीर्थ पुरोहित दिल्लीवाल, उसी तरह मेरठवाल, सागरवाल, प्रयागवाल, करोलीवाल, रीवांवाल आदि कहे जाते हैं। श्री बदरीपंडा पंचायत के तहत तीर्थ पुरोहितों के आठ थोकों की व्यवस्था बनी हुई है। पंडा पंचायत अध्यक्ष मुकेश भट्ट प्रयागवाल तीर्थ पुरोहितों की बहियों को महत्वपूर्ण सनद मानते हैं। उनके अनुसार देश के कई परिवारों का बंटवारों और फैसलों में कोर्ट भी इन्हें मान्य करता आया है। कई बहियां तो एक किलोमीटर लंबाई और 70 किलो वजन तक की भी हैं। पहले ये हरिद्वार से बद्रीनाथ लाई जाती थीं। बाद में इन बहियों को हरिद्वार, देवप्रयाग और बद्रीनाथ में रखा जाने लगा। काफी परिश्रम से बनी इन बहियों में भारत के प्रसिद्ध संतों राजनेताओं कलाकारों समाज सेवियों उद्योगपतियों आदि की वंशावलियां, उनके हस्ताक्षर सहित मौजूद हैं।