Parth Pawar's firm seeks more time on Rs 21 crore stamp duty notice in Pune land deal

Pune: A company linked to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's son Parth Pawar has sought 15 more days to respond to a notice directing it to pay Rs 21 crore towards stamp duty in a land deal case.

Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Parth Pawar is a majority partner, approached the Inspector General of Registration's office, on the last day of its notice expiry on Monday, which had granted the firm seven days to respond.

"A team of lawyers approached the IGR office with an authority letter to represent the firm and its partner, Digvijay Patil, and submitted an application seeking extension of 15 more days to respond to the notice directing the firm to pay Rs 21 crore as stamp duty," a senior IGR office said.

The application has been accepted and the decision to grant an extension will be taken by senior officials, he added.

The Rs 300-crore deal to sell a 40-acre land parcel in the prime Mundhwa area to the firm came under scrutiny after it was found that the land belongs to the government and the firm was exempted from paying the stamp duty.

Following the controversy, an offence was registered against Digvijay Patil and others, including a government official. Parth Pawar was not named in the FIR.

Amid a political firestorm, Ajit Pawar announced that the deal would be scrapped.

An inquiry by the IGR office had indicted Patil, Shital Tejwani, who held the power of attorney, and sub-registrar Ravindra Taru, who facilitated the sale deed of the land for irregularities.