Illegal and Unauthorised Constructions in Redevelopment

Some IAS officers in the State bureaucracy are accused of protecting Andheri's landmark Kamdhenu Departmental Store. The two-storey shopping plaza stands on a 1.41-acre plot the State government allotted to Patliputra Co-operative Housing Society in 1999. The society is composed largely of IAS officers, including former State Chief Secretaries Johny Joseph and V Ranganathan, and former additional municipal commissioner Vidyadhar Kanade.

A major illegal construction of Shopping Mall has come to light on the government land allotted to Patliputra Co-operative Housing Society comprising 50 senior bureaucrats. The FIR filed by the Municipal Corporation has not been registered by the Versova Police Station despite 11 months having passed.

Gist of the case:

A group of 50 senior bureaucrats mainly IAS officers in the name of Patliputra Co-operative Housing Society got government land allotted through Narayan Rane on 9th July, 1999, on the last working day before code of conduct for elections was to come to force. On that day, there was a massive movement of files, across several departments, under highly suspicious circumstances, and this matter is currently under examination.

The full list of officers in the Patliputra Co-operative Housing Society is appended in the end of this mail.

This is a land of the size of about 5,666.27 square metres, i.e. of about 1.41 acres and is situated on the Char Bungalow Junction.

Under the Government Rules, 15% of the land could be used for commercial purposes. Further, under the Development Control Regulation 52, no new shopping is permitted on the Jai Prakash Road where this plot abuts. Here, only small convenience shops are permitted.

Since there was no question of having permitted construction of a shopping mall on that land, approval was taken for the construction of small shops in the part of the said land since that was legally permissible.

However, it seems that once the construction was done, and Occupation Certificate issued the walls of the so-called small convenience shops were demolished. Thus, fraudulently came up a 3 floor shopping mall by the name Kamdhenu which is a landmark place in the heavily congested Four Bungalows junction just next to Ambani Hospital.

Further, since as per the government rules only 15% of the FSI could be used for commercial purposes, another fraud was played, where several areas such as basement, passages, lift rooms, space below the stair case were got approved as being free of FSI. As per rules, these exempt from FSI spaces could not be used for the shopping mall.

However, these exempt from FSI spaces were illegally merged into the shopping mall. Thus the area under shopping mall became enormously larger than the maximum permissible limit of 15%.

Unfortunately, the Revenue Department is silent on this and has taken no action.

Investigations done by Municipal Corporation of greater Mumbai:

This matter was investigated by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

The papers to support the aforesaid are as under:

(A) Inspection Report of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai dated 1st July, 2010 showing illegalities.

(B) Notice under section 53 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, calling upon Kamdhenu to undo the illegality.

(C) Complaint dated 4th October, 2010 for lodging FIR under the cognisable section 53 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, with Versova Police Station.

Inferences and surmises:

(1) As per the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and also as per the several rulings of the Supreme Court and the High Court, an FIR has to be registered at once, just when the complaint is received. Here, the complaint was lodged by Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, yet no action took place.

(2) In this case, the owner of the Land is the Government of Maharashtra through the Patliputra Co-operative Housing Society. It was at least required to have named the office bearers of the Society since the year 2004 as the accused persons. However the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai did not do this. Perhaps, the lower rank Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai officers had no courage to take action.

(3) Many of the illegal activities happened when the members of the society were occupying statutory jurisdiction over such illegal construction in the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and in the Urban Development Department. No accountability has been bestowed on such senior IAS officers.

(4) The Revenue Department is silent over the deeds for the reasons best known to them. As per rules, only 15% of the FSI could be used for commercial construction, however, here it has exceeded far more. For such an illegal act, it was required for the Revenue Department to cancel the allotment of land to the Society; however, no such action has taken place.

Action required:

If a Society comprising such senior IAS officers indulges in such serious and open illegal construction and violation of laws, then God only can save our nation. It is shocking to see that law makers themselves have blatantly and openly become law breakers.

Justice and equity demands, that since in this case very senior IAS officers of Maharashtra State are involved, as such, this case must be handed over to the CBI for investigation.

Documents:

If any person is keen on getting documents detailed above, then the same may be collected from Shri Santosh Daundkar. His telephone No. is 9821943920. He can also provide more details in the matter. On specific queries of legal nature the undersigned may be contacted.

Noted activist to move HC
Monday, September 19, 2011 by Philip Varghese

Over a year after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) filed a complaint with the Versova police station against Patliputra housing society near Four Bungalows in Andheri (West), famous social activist Santosh Daundkar, along with former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer-turned-lawyer, Y.P. Singh is all set to move the Bombay High Court on the issue.

The issue came to light through a Right to Information (RTI) plea filed by Daundkar, which revealed about the alleged misuse of space given to a shopping complex on the plot. Even though the BMC had filed a complaint last year, which got no response, the activist on Sunday filed another complaint with the Versova police seeking a proper investigation in the matter within 48 hours.

Former Chief Secretary and UPA Lokayukta Johnny Joseph, Home Secretary Umeshchandra Sarangi, MMRDA Chief Rahul Asthana, Municipal Commissioner Subodh Kumar and senior police official Satyapal Singh, who are veterans on civic and police laws, are members of the society.

According to the complaint (a copy of which is with the ADC), a group of 50 senior bureaucrats, mainly IAS officers, in the name of Patliputra Co-operative Housing Society got government land allotted through the then Chief Minister Narayan Rane on July 9, 1999, on the last working day before code of conduct for elections was to come to force. “On that day, there was a massive movement of files, across several departments, under highly suspicious circumstances, and this matter is currently under examination.

This is a land of the size of about 5,666.27 square metres, i.e. of about 1.41 acres and is situated on the four Bungalows’ Junction. Under the government rules, 15 per cent of the land could be used for commercial purposes,” the complaint stated.

“Further, under the Development Control Regulation 52, no new shopping is permitted on the Jai Prakash Road where this plot abuts. Here, only small convenience shops are permitted. Since there was no question of having permitted construction of a shopping mall on that land, approval was taken for the construction of small shops in the part of the said land since that was legally permissible.

However, it seems that once the construction was done, and Occupation Certificate issued the walls of the so-called small convenience shops were demolished. And, thus, fraudulently came up a three-floor shopping mall by the name Kamdhenu, which is a landmark place in the heavily congested Four Bungalows junction, just next to Kokilaben Ambani Hospital,” the complaint further alleged.

Speaking to the ADC, advocate Y.P. Singh, representing Daundkar in this case said, “This is a criminal conspiracy by all members of the Patliputra Society.

Further, since as per the government rules only 15 per cent of the FSI could be used for commercial purposes, another fraud was played, where several areas such as basement, passages, lift rooms, space below the stair case were got approved as being free of FSI.

As per rules, these exempt from FSI spaces could not be used for the shopping mall. Through the shopping mall, the members are earning huge profits. This needs to be investigated by an independent agency as we feel this conspiracy is bigger than the ‘Adarsh’ scam. So we will move the court soon after looking at the investigations of the police.”

Sharad Kishna Borse, Senior Police Inspector of Versova police station refused to comment on the issue and said that the matter is under investigation.

SOURCE COURTSEY: http://www.afternoondc.in/city-news/noted-activist-to-move-hc/article_35066

NAGPUR: With legislators from both treasury and opposition benches demanding action against the Patliputra Cooperative Housing Society at Versova in Mumbai for illegalities committed on the plot on which it stands, the state government could appoint a committee to probe into the allegations. Its members include serving and retired bureaucrats and cops.

The Versova police had registered an FIR against the owner of shopping complex-cum-departmental store (Kamdhenu) which exist on the ground floor of the plot in September this year after a BMC inspection report in June last year had reported violations. To allow the store to operate, walls dividing the 12 shops on ground floor were illegally removed. Illegal alterations were also committed to combine two shops on the first floor. Civic officials also found unauthorized occupation of sheds and stalls on area marked for open space. Illegal shed had been constructed on the terrace too.

The police action was taken on the basis of a complaint filed by the BMC under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 on October 4, 2010. Even as the MRTP ACT advocates action against the owner in such cases, no FIR was registered against the society.

Legislators from both the ruling and opposition benches accused the government and police machinery of working under pressure in not acting against the society during a discussion that took place in the question hour in the legislative assembly on Thursday. The issue was also been debated on Wednesday.

Most members of the society are serving in senior positions in the state administration. Quoting provisions mentioned in the MRTP Act, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis argued that acting only against the store owner went against the scheme of the act. Echoing his views, Congress legislator Baba Siddiqui even cast aspersions on the BMC commissioner Subodh Kumar role. Kumar is a member in the society.

"It is the municipal commissioner, who delegates powers to associates for initiating action under MRTP. How do you expect these officials to press for action against a society whose members include the very person to have delegated powers," he said. Amin Patel (Cong) also supported the argument.

Defending Kumar, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that BMC had filed a complaint against both the society and owner. "The police filed action against the occupier on the basis of its own site inspection. I will collect information on the basis of police action," Chavan said.

Legislators however continued to press for action against the society. With an assurance from Chavan in this regard not forthcoming, opposition leader Eknath Khadse even accused him of shielding the "guilty" officials. "While illegalities have been committed, it is a question of who is culpable," argued CM.

Khadse even alleged that the most society members had provided incorrect information regarding their family income while applying for the membership. Some have even shown an income of Rs 10,000 or less, he said, demanding action against the officials for submitting false information. He even demanded that the concerned officials be sent on forced leave and an inquiry be initiated in this regard.

Speaker Dilip Walse Patil suspended the question hour amid ruckus. Upon resumption of proceedings, opposition members demanded that the question be reserved till the start of the budget session. Sources said that the CM could initiate an inquiry in this regard.

SOURCE COURTESY: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Inquiry-likely-against-Versovas-Patliputra-Cooperative-Housing Society/articleshow/11212457.cms

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