High court relief for Gehlot, son in 'Pallacia' ahead of polls

JAIPUR: In a relief to chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his family ahead of the elections, a division bench of the Rajasthan high court gave a clean chit to him in the case high-end flat project of the city named 'Pallacia' and also absolved his son of playing any role in the grant of sanction by JDA for its construction.In a writ petition filed by one Nirmal Nahata, a resident of C-Scheme, he has alleged that since Vaibhav Gehlot is on the pay rolls of the company constructing the project and the chief minister is also having close family terms with the company owners, they have played a role.However, JDA has given a go ahead for the project only after it played by to the rules and the plot in question has been permitted to be used for constructing high-end flats. Chief Justice Amitava Roy and Justice Virendra Singh Siradhana observed that the motive behind the petition seems to be oblique as the land is not situated on Statue Circle. The bench cautioned the petitioner that in such cases, ordinarily a heavy cost is usually imposed as no research was conducted to see that the merit of the case. The court asked the petitioner to be more cautions and vigilant in raising such issued in future.Giving a relief to the chief minister and his son from the alleged charges of corruption, the bench observed that it is beyond one's imagination that the JDA was wooed in issuing necessary relaxations in consideration of the fact that Vaibhav Gehlot is the legal advisor of the company taking in the project.The plot in question was once given to the original allottee on concessional rates in 1944. It was awarded subsequent exemptions from the Land Ceiling Act on the basis of certain conditions including that of usage. The JDA approved the plans of the project by considering it on a provision that allows height of buildings up to 30m. However, it was stated to be situated on Statue Circle where permissible height of buildings is only 15 m.The petitioner claimed that the JDA ought to have taken possession of the plot but instead allowed it to be sold by the original allottee and even the construction is being done violating the law approved where FAR is only 2m whereas the project has FAR of 2.25 m. The writ petition was originally filed before a single judge of the high court that had stayed the construction and asked the police to seal the premise and get a videography done upon which an appeal was made to a division bench by the builder.