The Bombay High Court (HC) on Tuesday asked the state government to consider appointing a committee under the chairmanship of a retired district judge to probe the alleged irregularities in the allotment of flats under the Chief Minister’s (CM) discretionary quota. The court took note that compilation of data so far had been in “bits and pieces”. Justices A S Oka and G S Kulkarni observed there was no clarity on the details of actual possession and registration of FIRs, which were a must while dealing with each case. The bench said the committee would study applications, which had sought flats under CM's quota and also affidavits filed by applicants to find out whether any beneficiary had got double allotment of flats by giving false declaration that he or she does not own a house in the state. The bench further said the committee would also verify whether a beneficiary of a flat in one agglomeration had got another house in another agglomeration. There were a total of nine agglomerations in the State, an affidavit filed by the state government said. The court said it would pass an order on September 29 on appointment of a retired district judge for this committee. While terming the irregularities in flat allotment as the “tip of the iceberg”, the HC observed it would be better if one officer compiled all the available information and prepared a chart. The judges then suggested the state to consider appointment of a retired district judge as “it was just a matter of compilation”. Meanwhile, replying to a query by the judges on the CM quota flats, State Advocate General (AG) Darius Khambata told the high court on Tuesday that such flats were meant for beneficiaries, their spouses and minor children. The state government had, on September 9, informed the HC that criminal action had been initiated against 16 “double allottees” who obtained flats under CM’s quota by submitting false affidavits. The court was acting on activist Ketan Tirodkar’s PIL, which had argued that the beneficiaries of flats under CM’s quota were either related to MLAs and MPs or were politicians. He alleged that the government had not prosecuted those who were allotted two or more flats, either by filing an FIR or cancelling their allotments. The high court had, on March 20, set aside the state’s policy for allotment of houses to the beneficiaries under the CM’s quota. The HC described the policy as “illegal, irrational and unfair” and asked the state to come up with a fresh policy, which would be transparent and fair. aamir.khan@expressindia.com
