The Hindu : Kerala News : VS, Mani lock horns over lease rate

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Friday, Jul 23, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

VS, Mani lock horns over lease rate

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 22. The row over the revision of lease rates on Government land spilled out of the Assembly today, with the Leader of the Opposition and the Revenue Minister holding separate press conferences to clarify the points they had made during the zero hour in the House.

The Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, accused the Revenue Minister, K. M. Mani, of giving concession worth over Rs. 180 crores to several affluent clubs and commercial establishments by waiving the dues accumulated by them towards lease on public land under their use. Also, the lease rates had been brought down drastically to favour them, he said.

Minister's claim

Quoting a written answer in the Assembly, he said that the Minister's claim was that these decisions had been taken in response to a memorandum submitted to the Government by a Chavara-based association of document writers. Mr. Mani had said in the Assembly yesterday that the previous LDF Government itself had taken a Cabinet decision in February 2001 to bring down the lease rates, which were fixed at too high a level in 1995. Subsequently, he had also placed on the table of the House the papers relating to that Cabinet decision.

Mr. Achuthanandan today said there was a big difference between the decision taken by the Nayanar Cabinet and the one taken by the Government now.

The LDF Government's decision (which, however, was not executed because of the Assembly elections that followed immediately) was to bring down the lease rates on land used by "certain specifically named educational institutions and cooperative institutions". This concession was proposed, apparently, in view of the social functions performed by such institutions.

Now the concession was for even posh clubs and commercial establishments. Mr. Achuthanandan said that even the `White Paper on State Finances' brought out by the Antony Government in 2001 had spoken of the need for an upward revision in lease rates on public land to augment the revenue receipts of the Government.

Proposal

In the Assembly, he proposed that Rs. 180 crores lost by the Government on account of this count should be realised from Mr. Mani. "We are ready to exonerate Mr. Mani if he can prove that it is a Cabinet decision. Then we will hold the entire Cabinet responsible," Mr. Achuthanandan said.

Later, in the Assembly, Mr. Mani produced the Cabinet decision, which was a single line - "approving the proposal to revise the lease rates appropriately". Mr. Mani said that the lease rates had been revised in 1995 to levels that were too unrealistic.

What the Government had done was to offer them the option of making a one-time payment of 25 per cent of the dues, Mr. Mani said.

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