Mundhwa land deal: Sub-registrar used 'skip' option in e-mutation to register sale deed, says report

Pune, Nov 19 (PTI) A committee probing the Mundhwa land deal case, involving Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's son Parth, has mentioned in its report that suspended sub-registrar Ravindra Taru used the "skip" option in the e-mutation process to register a sale deed for government land.

This enabled classification of the land as "movable property" to bypass the mandatory verification procedures, it said.

The report of the three-member panel was submitted on Tuesday. It indicted the three persons named in the related police FIR.

The sale of 40 acres of land in Pune's upscale Mundhwa area to Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Parth Pawar is a partner, came under the scanner after it emerged the plot belongs to the government and could not be sold, and the firm was exempted from the payment of Rs 21 crore in stamp duty.

The controversial transaction involves a 40-acre (approximately 66,700 square meters) plot of Mahar Watan land at survey number 88, Mouje Mundhwa, which was illegally sold to Parth Pawar's firm Amadea Enterprises LLP, for Rs 300 crore, even as the property's estimated market value was Rs 1,800 crore.

The inquiry report, submitted by a committee headed by Rajendra Muthe, Joint Inspector General of Registration (IGR), said that when sub-registrar Taru processed the sale deed on May 19, 2025, he used a loophole in the registration system.

"Despite clear documentary evidence that the property belonged to the "Mumbai Government" as explicitly stated in the 7/12 extract dated July 27, 2021, Taru used the 'skip' option during e-mutation. This technical manoeuvre allowed him to classify the 17-hectare government property as 'movable', thereby registering the document without triggering the mandatory verification protocols required for government land transactions," the report said.

"The Sub-Registrar failed to verify this crucial fact, thereby violating Section 18 of the Registration Act, 1908," it said.

This section explicitly requires registrars to verify ownership status before registering any property transaction, particularly when government land is involved.

The investigation committee's findings further stated that despite clear knowledge that the property belongs to the government and that the seller has no right to transfer such property, the executants of the sale deed willfully submitted the deed for registration and affirmed it accordingly.

The report indicted three individuals - Digvijay Patil, the partner at Amadea Enterprises LLP, Shital Tejwani, who acted as a power attorney and sold the land and sub-registrar, Taru, who facilitated the sale deed. PTI SPK NP