Allotment of 39 amenity plots stands to be cancelled

D K Jagdale,joint chief officer of MHADA’s Mumbai board,told Newsline,“We have unilaterally decided to recommend the allotments for cancellation. We conducted a few internal checks to ensure that the plot is indeed undeveloped as per the file status,whether full payment has been made for the plot and the party concerned has taken possession,whether there is any litigation and so on.”

“We finished the exercise of scrutinising the cases about 15-20 days ago and recommended them for cancellation. In many cases,the deals had not gone through fully. Many had not even made full payment for the plots or taken possession,” Jagdale said.

However,MHADA did not conduct any hearings with the parties concerned.

Once the housing department implements MHADA’s recommendations,the authority will put these plots on the block for development of amenities through an open tendering system. However,it might take long before the cancellations are finalised.

Debashish Chakrabarty,principal secretary of the housing department,said,“MHADA has done a very preliminary survey. There are certain terms and conditions that need to be looked into. We have called for additional information. Hearings will be given at the government level wherever needed as natural justice requires that hearings be given to all parties concerned.”

The 39 plots that have not been developed include a 10,000-sq m plot meant for a hospital given to Nargis Dutt Charitable Trust,of which Congress MP Priya Dutt is a trustee. The trust had volunteered to surrender the plot due to issues over payment,a MHADA official said. Priya Dutt could not be reached for a comment.

Plots were also sanctioned for allotment to NCP minister Jayant Patil’s Kasegaon Education Society and Congress MLC Subhash Chavan in 2002,but were never developed. For Kasegaon Education Society,a 3,552-sq m plot was sanctioned for allotment in Malwani,while Chavan was allotted a 1,000-sq m plot in Gandhi Nagar,Bandra (East).

Chavan said the formalities for taking possession were never completed. “We had given up possession of the plot a few years ago,” he said.

Patil was unavailable for comment. An official from the Kasegaon Education Society said,“We had sent a proposal to get a MHADA amenity plot in Malwani,but the allotment never completely went through and we never got the possession of the plot.”