Responding to the assertions made against him by the Vigilance Organization, former Minister and senior Congress leader Chowdhary Taj Mohiuddin Thursday said that the piece of land in question was purchased by him in 1970 from one Gulla Bhat who had also handed over the possession to him at the time of purchase.Addressing a news conference in Press Club Jammu, Taj Mohiuddin said that when militancy erupted in 1990’s in Valley, like all other politicians, he also left the Valley and stayed at Jammu for four years. “During my stay at Jammu, I got the papers of said land duly completed in all respect after following the procedure under Section 4 and Section 8 of Agrarian Reform Act, which were personally delivered by Gulla Bhat at Jammu,” he said.
Taj said that he again returned back to Srinagar in the late 1994 and stayed MLA Hostel Srinagar.
“I wonder that nobody raised an issue during all these 40 years ever since he bought this land,” he said and added that he felt sorry for those people who were firstly claiming that the said land was forest land but now are contradicting their claim.Taj Mohiuddin further said that he has an apprehension whether this action of the Vigilance Organization may not be a politically motivated. “I regret that before framing an opinion, the Vigilance Organization did not speak to him even once or to any villager in the area where the piece of land in question is located,” he said.Taj said that he fails to understand who is playing the game against him behind the cards. “I don’t know whether the probe of Vigilance Organization is politically motivated or not but one thing I can tell you with authority that everything is being done out of vengeance,” he said. Pertinently, the Vigilance Organization Kashmir on Tuesday booked the former Congress minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din in a land grab case in Shopian district of South Kashmir. (CNS)