Public land for the rich and powerful

On 2 December 1992, four days before the Babri Masjid was demolished and the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh dismissed by the Centre, the then Kalyan Singh government in UP passed an order to privatise precious nazul land in the state.

On 7 March 2024, the BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath issued an ordinance reversing that order. In between the two decisions lies a tale of how prime properties in the state were cornered by influential people and the extent to which rules were bent for them.

Nazul land refers to parcels of land annexed by the British army from Mughal chieftains or zamindars. These plots, essentially State-owned land, were then leased out by colonial rulers and subsequent governments to individuals or organisations for a fixed period, anywhere between 15–99 years.

The lessees were, however, barred from altering the nature of the land, which meant they could neither sell the land nor build on it. The 1992 order altered the status quo. It allowed the lessee to get the land converted from leasehold to freehold by paying a fee, thereby enabling the transfer of ownership from the government to private entities.

The amended provisions allowed the government to impose half the market rate as a freehold fee for the transfer from lessees who had not flouted any of the conditions of the lease. Violators, though, were supposed to pay 100 per cent of the market rate.

The fee for group housing societies was 75 per cent (non-violators) and 150 per cent (violators). The fee for people who had put their land to commercial use was fixed at 150 per cent for non-violators and 250 per cent of the market rate for violators.

Of the thousands of beneficiaries in the state, one of the most prominent was the former RSS chief Rajendra Singh alias Rajju Bhaiya. The lease of K plot, Civil Station, spread over two acres in the posh Civil Lines area of Allahabad (now Prayagraj) was originally leased out to Rajju Bhaiya’s father and four others.

After the lease expired in November 1958, a total of 4,605 square yards of the said land was transferred to Rajju Bhaiya. Rajju Bhaiya sought renewal multiple times, but was refused by the Allahabad administration on account of violations of the stipulated conditions.

Two buildings—the Saraswati Shishu Mandir and the Jwala Devi Inter College, both run by the RSS’s Vidya Bharati—had been constructed on the plot. As per a 1991 order, a penalty of Rs 7.89 lakh was imposed on him in October 1998.

‘After depositing the fine, a fresh lease could be issued in your name for plot K Civil Station (4,525 square yards) from 19 November 1958 to 18 November 1988 which will require renewal every 30 years,’ wrote Alok Tandon, the then District Magistrate.

Kalyan Singh, who assumed charge as chief minister a second time in September 1997 as part of the BSP–BJP rotational arrangement, came to the rescue. New rules waived off penalties levied on all leaseholders who had violated lease terms; and also allowed them freehold rights at a heavy discount. A government order on

1 December 1998, stated that the provision of penalty for violation of lease terms was being scrapped with immediate effect.

The new policy in 1998 created two categories for freehold rights on nazul land: residential and commercial. The Kalyan Singh government stipulated that the circle rate—the reserved price below which no land could be sold and registered—applicable for such rights would be what was in force in 1991, seven years before the new policy was formulated.

The charges for getting freehold rights were stipulated at 40 per cent of the circle rate for residential plots and 60 per cent for commercial plots. The catch was that circle rates had gone up since 1991.

Details from the Prayagraj registry department suggest that four days after the order came into effect, Rajju Bhaiya named former advocate general of Uttar Pradesh, V.K.S. Chaudhary and his two sons Ravindra Singh and Yatindra Singh as his nominees for getting freehold rights for 1,784 sq. m. of plot K, Civil Station, while he himself applied for freehold rights to 1494.90 sq. m. in his own name.

The freehold lease was executed by the Allahabad district administration on 30 November 1999. Six days later, on 6 December 1999, Rajju Bhaiya got the property registered in his name in the registry office for a total of just Rs 3,36,341.35.

The ordinance promulgated by the BJP government earlier this year to put a complete ban on the conversion of nazul land into freehold land also stipulated that those whose transfers were pending would be refunded the penalty and conversion fee deposited, with interest. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath then sought to replace the ordinance with an Act.

However, the Uttar Pradesh Nazul Properties (Management and Utilisation for Public Purposes) Bill moved by the government was not passed by both houses of the state legislature owing to strong objections not only from opposition benches but from treasury benches as well.

It was eventually sent to the select committee for further examination, a day after it was cleared by the state assembly and was scheduled to be debated by the state legislative council.

Former Congress MLA from Allahabad (North) Anugrah Narayan Singh said that the bill is detrimental to the interests of poorer families and communities living on nazul land. While influential people

got away lightly, the new law would lead to the eviction of longstanding residents, causing significant hardship to those who have invested in this land for generations.

While ordinary people who ran from pillar to post to get the leases transferred are still waiting, the rich and powerful not only had their leases converted into freehold land, they were also exempted from paying penalties.

Sandeep Patel of the Samajwadi Party said on the floor of the assembly, “It was the BJP government which had first brought a policy to give freehold rights in UP to leaseholders in 1992. It was again a BJP government which tweaked rules to help ‘a big person’.” He was, of course, referring to Rajju Bhaiya.

Before his death in 2003, Rajju Bhaiyya donated the nazul land to the RSS. Today plot K, Civil Station, stands divided into three major sections: the Jwala Devi Saraswati Vidya Mandir Inter College, the RSS office and the residence of V.K.S. Chaudhary.

Kunal Ravi Singh, a relative who currently resides in Chaudhary’s residence located in another portion of the plot, says that the policy also benefited several thousand other people who got freehold rights to sell and construct on the land.

Balram Prasad, karyalaya pramukh at the RSS office in Prayagraj, says defensively that the property is not for personal benefit but for a social purpose.