SIT to probe 60-year-old land allotment to Premier Automobiles in Kalyan

Kalyan's Premier Automobiles, maker of the well-known Padmini Premier car, has come under scrutiny after a land allocation to the company by the revenue department raised questions about the department's own functioning. Over 60 years ago, between 1962 and 1965, more than 170 acres were allotted to the company through separate government orders. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has now been formed, on 4 September 2026, to examine this land.

The probe was ordered by revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on a complaint from Congress leader Nana Patole. The SIT was formed just eight days after the complaint was received, without any preliminary inquiry, which has drawn surprise.

While Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is promoting industry to create jobs, the revenue department is troubling industries with what is being called unnecessary paperwork of this kind, raising questions about how industry and jobs will come to the state.

Premier Automobiles was founded in 1944 by Solapur industrialist Seth Walchand Hirachand Doshi, with encouragement from Sir M. Visvesvaraya. It was among the companies that built some of the earliest cars made in India after independence. After Walchand Hirachand's death in 1953, his brother Lalchand Hirachand took charge of the company.

At the state government's request, to promote industrial development in Maharashtra, the Hirachand family agreed to expand production in the state. Under this, more than 170 acres in Kalyan taluka of Thane district were given to Premier Automobiles between 1962 and 1965 through separate orders. The area was then remote, with little industrial activity, and the aim was for Premier to set up a large industrial unit to create jobs, with some land to be used for employee housing.

The SIT has now been formed to examine this original allotment more than six decades later, and questions are being raised about the timing of the inquiry and the administration's role in it.

Meanwhile, after the company ran into financial difficulty, parts of the land were sold to different parties. About 55 acres were given to Anant Developers under a development agreement, while the company says it cleared its dues to the department by selling some land. Of the 170 acres, 57 acres are currently with the Runwal Group, 55 acres with Lodha Developers, 41 acres with Sandur Nivas Properties, and about 13 acres with various government departments.

Bharat Narsana, director of Anant Developers, says that despite decisions taken in the 1960s for industrial development and jobs, the subsequent change in land use, court proceedings, and full payment of dues to the government, the administration has now decided to set up an SIT inquiry 60 years later. He says the decision appears to have been taken under pressure, and asked why industrialists would want to remain in Maharashtra if this continues.

The case has raised a broader question: if every old government decision on industrial investment, land allotment and development projects is investigated decades later, what will it mean for officials taking decisions on industry and infrastructure in future.

There are also questions over whether the revenue department's approach is promoting development or obstructing decision-making, given that a policy of allotting land to industry to create jobs is now being probed six decades later. Questions are also being raised about the pace and direction of the process, after a Congress MLA's letter dated 11 August led to a meeting within eight days and a decision by 19 August.