‘Review petition for mutation pending before revenue board’

INDORE: The state government told Indore bench of high

court

that it had taken all possible steps for

mutation

of the

church

land in Mhow in its name, by filing a

review

petition before the Board of Revenue, which was the competent authority to decide the matter.

The state submitted this in its reply to the PIL filed by Varsha Garg and Jayesh Garg seeking removal of encroachment from the land in Rasalpura and its mutation back in the name of government.

The state submitted that since the process for the same was initiated by the state government before the Board of Revenue and was pending there, the PIL was rendered infructuous and must be dismissed.

The state also submitted that the review

petition

before the board was filed in 2018 and notices had also been issued by them to respondents, including Solomon Smith, in whose name the land mutation had been done in 2004 and has been challenged.

“The board of revenue has also condoned the delay of 14 years in filing the review petition, as the state had been awaiting a report from the special task force as well as the sanction from law department for filing the review petition,” deputy advocate general Abhinav Dhanodkar said.

Meanwhile another miscellaneous petition has been filed by Smith challenging the condonation of delay. The petition has also been connected with the PIL filed by Garg.

On Monday, some other private parties were also made respondents to the petition which included the persons to whom the land was sold by Smith. The matter will be heard further by the high court on March 15, while the next date of hearing before the board is March 8.