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60 acres of prime land taken away from `royal' owners

Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL: The district administration on Friday swung into action and took possession of 60 acres of land on which a stud farm was being maintained by some members of the erstwhile royal family of Bhopal.

The farm, spread over a sprawling 60 acres of land in the heart of the city, was supposed to be owned by the erstwhile ruler of Bhopal Sajida Begum's sister Begum Suraiya Rashid, her daughter, Nilofar Khan and two sons, Nadir Rashid and Yawar Rashid. This family also runs a prestigious heritage hotel here.

When contacted, Mr. Yawar Rashid told The Hindu that the authorities had acted in haste by taking possession of "their" land after a two-judge Bench rejected a special leave petition filed by them and left them the option to approach the Supreme Court. They had even filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday, he added.

"The Government should have given a few days time instead of acting in haste since it is a horse breeding establishment," he added.

A senior district official said "on the basis of some records, it had been projected that Begum Rashid was the owner of a stud farm at Jail Bag. The district administration took the stand that the stud farm at Jail Bag was an encroachment on a piece of land that actually belonged to Bhopal Jail."

The matter was taken to the State Revenue Board that gave a verdict in favour of the stud farm "owners". The issue remained locked in files till the former Bhopal Collector, Anurag Jain, reopened it and took the case to High Court through a writ petition No. 45/ 2001.

The single-judge Bench of the High Court overruled the Revenue Board order after perusal of records. The High Court order of October 27, 2004, said the records clearly established that the land in question was Government property.

The order by the single-judge Bench of the High Court was followed up with a special leave petition (825/04) filed by the "stud farm owners". A two-judge Bench of the High Court comprising the Chief Justice, R.V. Raveendran, and Justice Deepak Verma dismissed this petition on August 29.

On Friday, district administration officials reached the stud farm with a posse of policemen and a Bhopal Municipal Corporation demolition squad and within no time the stables for rearing race horses and other structures were razed to the ground by bulldozers.

The Additional District Magistrate, Urmila Surendra Shukla, who was at the spot supervising the demolition operations, told this correspondent that they were there to implement the High Court order.

As many as four dozen horses being reared at this farm was initially going to be handed over to the 7th Batallion of the Special Armed Force (SAF) of the State Police as no one was coming forward to take possession. However, on Friday evening the Rashid brothers took the responsibility of taking away these horses.

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60 acres of prime land taken away from `royal' owners

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