NEW DELHI: Business associates of Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel ’s daughter Anar Patel , got 422 acres of land in 2010 from the state government at Rs 15 per square metre, a huge 91.6% discount to the government’s stamp duty rate of Rs 180 per square metre.Further, a cow protection outfit, Muralidhar Gau Seva Trust, which had also applied for land in the same area — Amreli, near Gir forest reserve — was offered land at Rs 671 per square metre, far higher than the stamp duty rate for that plot, Rs 190 per square metre. Both proposals were considered by a state government committee at the same meeting.ET had reported the allotment to Wildwoods in its edition on February 5 (‘How Biz Partners of Guj CM’s Daughter Landed a Good Deal).Wildwoods Resorts, owned by Dakshesh Shah and Amol Sheth, whose companies have extensive business dealings with firms owned by Anar Patel, had received permission to change the land use category from agricultural to non-agricultural.Gujarat government officials confirmed to ET that the official jantri, or stamp duty, rate for the land sold to Wildwoods was Rs 180 per square metre.A spokesperson for the Gujarat government, responding to a detailed ET questionnaire sent to the CM’s office, said the land allotment to Wildwoods had followed due process. The official also said that the wide gap between the rate at which Wildwoods bought the land and the government’s own stamp duty rate was explained by the fact that “market rates and jantri rates can vary”.“The jantri rate is a ready reckoner but it isn’t the market rate. While evaluating the price of land, the jantri rate is just one input. Many other factors such as the proximity to roads, development, etc, also come into play. Land price is determined at market rate and not the jantri rate,” this official said.“No political pressure was put and all decisions were taken by the officers themselves.The reports on the evaluation of the land did not even make it up to the level of the then revenue minister (Anandiben Patel) and was handled at the secretary level itself,” the official added.The state provided more details to ET on the Wildwoods land allotment: the decision was taken after inputs from the deputy town planner, a committee headed by the local collector, the chief town planner and a committee comprising finance, revenue and urban development secretaries.“The committee of secretaries met twice to validate the price. The chief town planner had suggested a price of Rs 15/sq metre for 16 hectares of land and Rs 6/sq metre for the remainder, which the committee enhanced to Rs 15,” the official spokesperson said.The cow protection organisation had a different experience. It subsequently abandoned the plan to purchase government land and constructed the cow shelter on land donated by Shamjibhai Devani, a local resident. “I donated the land for free when they were not able to buy government land,” Devani told ET.Asked why the cow protection trust was offered land in the same area for a far higher rate, the state government spokesperson said the land sought by the trust was 30 km from the land given to Wildwoods. That distance, the spokesperson said, explained the difference in price.The Wildwoods allotment raised more questions, documents reviewed by ET show.First, the allotment had been red-flagged by the local range forest officer, who in his 2014 report had found forest activity in the land allotted to Wildwoods in 2010. In 2010, the state’s exclusion zone for land allotment was a 2-km radius around the Gir forest reserve. Wildwoods’ plot was within that radius. But in 2015, the exclusion zone was reduced to a 1.5-km radius around the forest reserve. That took the Wildwoods plot out of the protected zone.Further, Wildwoods was given the land under the stipulation that ownership won’t change and the tourism project would be completed in five years. Ownership changed from Sanjay Dhanak to firms owned by Dakshesh Shah and Amol Sheth, as had been reported by ET earlier. And the current stakeholders had confirmed to ET that the project hadn’t started.The state government spokesperson told ET the revenue department was looking into the possible violation of any allotment conditions.“Wildwoods submitted an application in September last year seeking an extension on the time frame for project completion. We are mulling over it. There has been no unusual haste on our part to accede to their request,” the official said.