The 16th century Thanagazi hill fort adjoining Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district was illegally auctioned for Rs 7 crore on Tuesday despite the fact that it is located in the forest area.
As soon as Alwar District Collector Ashutosh A T Pednekar came to know about the nature of the “property”, he cancelled the auction on late Tuesday evening and ordered an inquiry.
According to forest laws, no land or property falling in the reserved forest could be sold, transferred or auctioned.
The fort was taken over by the Rajasthan government following integration of the princely state of Alwar.
During the last Congress regime (1998-2003) headed by Ashok Gehlot, the state government had on November 16, 1999 ordered the district administration to hand it over to the forest department after transferring its title.
“For some unknown reason the revenue department didn’t execute the order and didn’t change the title in favour of the forest department.
“As such it continued to be a nazul (government owned) property,” Pednekar said.
Now the collector has instructed the revenue department to comply with the 1999 order and to also examine other nazul properties.
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