Kharage panel expected to submit report by Friday: Bawankule

Pune: The Vikas Kharage-led committee probing alleged irregularities in a Mundhwa land purchase deed linked to Parth Pawar, son of late deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, is expected to submit its report by Friday after being granted a one-week extension. "The panel is expected to submit the detailed report by Friday. The further course of action will be decided after the submission of the report. The panel sought an extension last week, which ends this Friday," state revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule told TOI on Wednesday. Bawankule said the five-member committee, headed by additional chief secretary (revenue) Kharage, sought seven additional days; in view of the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections scheduled for Saturday, the extension was granted. The request was accepted, and the revised deadline expires on Friday. A senior revenue department official said the inquiry report is in its final stages. "It is almost ready. Officials from the departments concerned gave their inputs. A report is being collated and will be submitted to state govt soon," the official said. The panel was constituted to examine alleged irregularities in a land purchase deed related to survey no. 88 inb Mouje Mundhwa, Pune. It is looking into possible procedural lapses in land valuation, documentation and the role of officials involved in the registration process. Bawankule earlier said that the findings of another five-member committee appointed by the inspector general of registration (IGR) and controller of stamps would be merged with the report submitted by the Kharage panel. The committee was set up in early Nov last year amid political controversy and was initially asked to submit its report by Dec 6. The deadline was later extended to Jan 6 and subsequently by another month after the panel sought more time to scrutinise records and responses from multiple departments. This is the second extension granted to the committee. Apart from Kharage, the panel includes the Pune divisional commissioner, commissioner of land registration and director of land records, IGR and controller of stamps, and the Pune district collector. Activists criticised the repeated extensions, alleging they could dilute the probe. Activist Vijay Kumbhar told TOI that he did not expect much from the inquiry. "Parth Pawar was given a clean chit in the EOW case. Here too, the committee is unlikely to name him," he said.