Author: Kiran Tare
Publication: India Today
Date: November 29, 2010
URL: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/StoryPrint?sId=120503&secid=36&page=null
Introduction: Prithviraj Chavan was allotted a Mumbai flat meant for the poor.
He is only one among many have got it through a discretionary quota
In 2003, when present Maharashtra Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan asked then Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for a flat
in Mumbai from the discretionary quota for economically weaker sections, he
declared Rs 76,000 as his annual income. This was far below the Rs 1.39 crore
Chavan had declared as the worth of his assets in an affidavit filed before
the Election Commission in 2002. This included 3.48 hectares of agricultural
land, 2,534 sq ft of non-agricultural land, and houses in Karad and New Delhi.
His bank and post-office accounts and jewellery were worth Rs 10 lakh.
Apart from all this, Chavan's monthly salary
as a Rajya Sabha MP was Rs 16,000, or Rs 1.9 lakh a year. Yet he was allotted
the 1,032 sq ft apartment in Venus Building at Bhakti Park, Wadala, for a
throwaway price of Rs 3,66,969 from the chief minister's quota. According
to rules, an applicant's annual income should be less than Rs 1 lakh to be
eligible for allotment.
When Chavan bought his house, its market price
was Rs 40 lakh; today it is around Rs 1.24 crore. While there is nothing illegal
in acquiring a flat through the chief minister's quota, the rules are clear
that the owner is expected to stay in it. Chavan doesn't. BJP state General
Secretary Vinod Tawde demands that Chavan disclose whether the current occupants
of his flat are his relatives or tenants. The chief minister says the flat
was allotted on compassionate grounds; he needed somewhere to stay in Mumbai
while his mother Premala Chavan was being treated for cancer in a hospital
nearby. By the time he got possession of the flat, she had died. Interestingly,
an application filed by Premala was earlier rejected because her annual income
was above Rs 1 lakh. However, Chavan says he is ready to give up the house
in case it is seen as a blot on his character.
The chief minister's quota is one of Maharashtra's
biggest real estate dupes. The Urban Land Ceiling Act 1976 says, "While
allowing construction on government land, it is mandatory for the developer
to reserve 5 per cent of the flats for people designated by the government.
These reserved flats are made available for allotment under the chief minister's
discretionary quota." In the last decade, the state Government has allotted
3,993 flats in Powai, Wadala, Mulund, Dahisar and Borivali at cheap rates
to ostensibly "economically weaker sections".
Rules prohibit owners from selling their flats
within a stipulated lock-in period of five years. As many as 1,008 flats have
been sold already-136 within five years. For example, five flats allotted
to Jagatrao Pawar, Pratap Jadhav, Sudam Patil, Prajakta Deshpande and Hari
Jaisingh were sold on the same day possession was given. Those who have sold
their flats within the lock-in period include Shiv Sena MP Bharatkumar Raut's
son Om, BJP Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar's son Ashutosh, Shikshak Bharti
MLC Kapil Patil, former Congress MP and actor Govinda's sister Kamini Khanna,
state minister Vijay Vadettivar's relative Kiran, former sherif Jagannath
Hegde's wife Vibha, BJP MLA Nana Patole, former Congress MLA Suhail Lokhandwala,
former mayor Milind Vaidya's wife Varada, and actor Ashwini Bhave.
Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai's son Subodh,
Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLA Shishir Shinde,
Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam's wife Geeta and Mumbai Congress President Kripashankar
Singh's son-in-law Vijaykumar Singh also sold their allotted flats. Javadekar's
son Ashutosh was allotted a flat in January 2001 that was sold in June 2003.
Later, the BJP leader's other son Apoorva was given an apartment in August
2008.
Predictably, the state Urban Development Department
(UDD) records show that 80 per cent of the flats were bought by politicians,
their relatives and friends. The entire list of allottees is in possession
of India Today. Most allotments are in buildings like Kingstone, Priston and
Powai Vihar Complex in Powai, Venus at Bhakti Park in Wadala and Green Woods
in Borivli. These were allotted in the years 1989 to 2009 at prices between
Rs 400 and Rs 500 per sq ft-10 times below their market value. The flats were
allegedly sold for Rs 7,000-9,000 per sq ft. In Wadala, where Chavan's flat
is, apartments were allegedly sold for Rs 11,000-13,000 per sq ft. The UDD
calculates these deals netted sellers around Rs 250 crore.
It was RTI activist Anil Galgali who brought
this racket to light. Officially, a transfer fee of Rs 50,000 has to be paid
to the government if a flat allotted by the chief minister is sold after five
years. However, a loophole in the law says it can be sold during the lock-in
period by paying Rs 1 lakh; but only to low income families.
However, no system exists to determine whether
this rule has been followed. "The relatives and friends of politicians
as well as actors and journalists bought these flats cheap," says Galgali.
"However, many sold their flats at market rates and made a profit."
Galgali has filed a complaint with the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) against
the misuse of the discretionary quota. "The ACB officials told me that
they have forwarded my complaint to the chief secretary. No action has been
taken since then," Galgali says.
The number of deserving candidates who were
allotted flats is very low. Noted Marathi poet and Padma Bhushan awardee,
the late Narayan Surve, worked as a peon in a local school. He had applied
for a flat through the chief minister's quota in 1996 when the BJP-Shiv Sena
combine was in power in Maharashtra. For the flat to be allotted to him, the
Government asked Surve for proof that he was a poet. He refused, and died
homeless three months ago.
