Former land reform secretary Chhabi Raj Panta has been ordered to post a bail of Rs 500,000 in a corruption case related to the Patanjali land issue.
A bench of Special Court Judges Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Murari Babu Shrestha ordered Panta to post the bail on Tuesday, according to the court’s information officer Yagya Raj Regmi .
On June 5, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case against 93 individuals, including former prime minister and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Panta.
On February 1, 2010, a Cabinet meeting approved Patanjali’s request to purchase 815 ropanis of land under an exemption from the land ceiling.
Similarly, on March 19, 2010, the Cabinet decided to allow Patanjali to sell the land acquired under the ceiling exemption.
The CIAA then initiated an investigation, suspecting corruption due to the government’s decision to permit the sale.
The Land-related Act allows the government to provide exemptions from land ceilings for productive industries or businesses.
However, land acquired under such exemptions cannot be sold.
The CIAA’s charge sheet filed in the Special Court states that the land was sold to various individuals despite this restriction.
