Mumbai:
The state government on Tuesday told the Bombay high court that “certain old files'' of the housing and urban development departments pertaining to allotment of flats made from the early 80s under the chief minister's discretionary quota were untraceable. In “some'' cases, “although allotment orders are available, there is no record of original sanction orders of the CM“. A bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Revati Mohite-Dere was miffed about why the state did not disclose this earlier to the court. The prosecutor said the officers were unaware and told the one-man inquiry commission about it. The bench said, “The only way to sort this out is to issue contempt notices to both secretaries.'' On October 9, 2014, the court told Justice (retd) J A Patil to probe flats allotted under 2% quota under Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority and 10% under Urban Land Ceiling Act from 1982 to 2010. A probe committee was appointed on a PIL by activist Ketan Tirodkar for action against double allottees.
The prosecutor said 1,200 beneficiaries voluntarily surrendered flats and criminal action had been taken against 300 persons. “Even before the inquiry is concluded? It shows the magnitude of irregularities.Collate this with the fact that the number of orders of allotments are missing,'' remarked Oka.
The judges marveled at the “voluntary'' surrender of flats, only to be told that it was done after notices were issued to the double allottees. Seeking a year wise break-up, the judges said the state government should be keener to see the effect. “Look at the staggering figures! 1,200 flats are now available in the urban agglomeration. This shows the number of allotments were illegal,'' said Oka. The judges also said, “This shows the number of persons who were ineligible and proves the case of the petitioner.“
The bench pointed out that the commission had to write to the HC to get relevant documents which were not provided.It refused to accept the government figure at “face value'' and directed both secretaries to file affidavits on the number of persons who have surrendered flats, their names and action taken against them.
A May 7 report to the HC by commission secretary N N Kumbhar said 8,393 original applications of allottees and 3,723 sanction orders of the CM were not made available by UDD. Also, 741 applications of allottees and 313 original sanction orders of the CM were not made available by the housing department regarding Mhada allotments.
Kumbhar said that out of over 12,000 files, UDD made available 9,204 files. UDD principal secretary Nitin Kareer visited the commission office in Pune and pointed out difficulties in giving the remaining files, applications and sanction orders. After a search in the office, 1,963 applications were found, reducing the figure to 6,430. They found 1,964 sanction orders, bringing the figure to 1,759; the housing department gave 1,087 of 1,300 files.
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