Court to ACB: Probe allegations against Hiranandani’s Powai project

In return,the builder was asked to build flats and sell them at the rate of Rs 150 per sq ft. However,an inquiry held in 2009 revealed that the developer had utilised only 76,120 sq m of built-up area of the 5.74 lakh sq m sanctioned by the state. The rest was converted into luxury apartments admeasuring 2,000 to 5,000 sq ft and sold at Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 per sq ft.

“We had sought an investigation. The court has directed the ACB to investigate and file its report,” Daundkar said.

The Bombay High Court had,in February,restrained Hiranandani builders from constructing on the open space available under the Powai Housing Development Scheme without seeking its permission. In her petition before the High Court,Patkar alleged that Hiranandani had “cheated” weaker sections of society and flouted the basic condition on which the land was returned to the original land owners by the MMRDA.

The basic condition,Patkar contended,was that the 140 hectares of land in Powai had to be used for providing mass housing for weaker sections of the society with 50 per cent tenements of 40 sq m each and the rest of 80 sq m each.