Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar defends his action responding to corruption charges, but stays quiet on allegations regarding a festival in Sillod
The Opposition seemed to have accepted the explanation given by Abdul Sattar and did not show the aggression they had exhibited earlier this week, by stalling both houses. File pic/ANI
Responding to the corruption charges in allotment of grazing land to a private person, agriculture minister Abdul Sattar has said that he took the decision without any favour and based on facts placed before him.
“I have not done anything wrong. The matter is in court and I am ready to accept the punishment I am handed,” he told the Assembly on Wednesday. The Opposition has accused him of violating rules in allotting grazing land to a person in Washim, causing heavy financial loss to the government. In fact, such land cannot be transferred to a private person, but by rules laid down by the SC, is kept reserved for the purpose of livestock grazing. However, the minister kept mum on allegations that he forced government officials to collect Rs 15 crore from companies and traders for an agricultural festival in Sillod.
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The Opposition seemed to have accepted the explanation and did not show the aggression they had exhibited earlier this week, by stalling both houses. The High Court has passed strictures against Sattar who had decided the appeal in a quasi-judicial capacity when he was a minister of state for revenue in the MVA government.
“I used my conscience to decide the appeal. It was for justice to the backward tribal people. However, the officials concerned did not bring to my notice the verdict given by a civil court in the same case. I was presented documents that supported the claim by Yogesh Khandare. My decision has not incurred any financial loss to the government,” he said. Sattar was also given relief and a clean chit in the teachers’ eligibility test scam in which it was alleged that his children were given jobs.
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