KATHMANDU, June 6: The government has asked 49 individuals accused of unlawfully owning land plots in Lalita Niwas to submit the necessary documents within the prescribed time frame, in a bid to nationalize the land pieces if those concerned failed to turn up with sufficient evidence.

Issuing a 21-day public notice on Sunday, the Office of Land Reform and Land Revenue, Dillibazar, Kathmandu, asked the concerned to submit necessary documents either physically or via online. “The individuals or the institutions concerned are asked to present the necessary documents as evidence to support their claims substantiating why the land ownership should not be transferred to the Government of Nepal,” reads the public notice.

According to the government body, it has stepped up action after the landowners did not come in contact despite repeated notifications issued by the authorities.   

Of the areas that the Land Revenue Office has sought to nationalize, four land plots are owned by Min Bahadur Gurung, proprietor of Bhatbhateni Store. Similarly, 12 land plots are in the name of Bhatbhateni Development Company Pvt Ltd that is being operated by Gurung.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has been investigating the controversial land scam. In a bid to bring the Lalita Niwas land back under the name of the government, the anti-graft watchdog has accused 175 individuals of illegally registering more than 299 ropanis of government and guthi (trust) land at Lalita Niwas in Baluwatar in the names of various individuals through the abuse of their authority or concocting of fictitious land tenants.

Some erstwhile bigwigs that include top political leaders Nepali Congress such as former deputy prime minister Vijaya Kumar Gachchhadar, former ministers Chandra Dev Joshi, Chhabiraj Pant and Dambar Shrestha, former government secretary Dinesh Hari Adhikari and former secretary and CIAA ex-chief Dip Basnyat have also been alleged for their involvement in the unlawful land deal. The scam has even dragged former Prime Ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel into controversies for their suspicious involvement in the land transactions.

The government has prompted for the necessary steps after the Supreme Court (SC) last week issued an order to the government to submit the decisions of the Council of Ministers taken by the Madhav Nepal-led government and Baburam Bhattarai-led government regarding Lalita Niwas land scam. Last February, the SC issued an order to the government authorities to arrest Shobha Kanta Dhakal for his involvement in transferring 136 ropanis of land in the name of individuals. 

 
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