Former commissioner of the Government Railway Police (GRP), Quaiser Khalid, gave permission for the hoarding that collapsed on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar on May 13, killing 17 people, three days after his transfer order was issued, without inviting tenders, said an official with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the incident. It was on December 19, 2022 — his last working day, that Khalid signed the file approving the application made by Ego Media Pvt Ltd, the SIT official said. He said that while Khalid’s transfer order was issued on December 16, 2022, he vacated office on December 19, when he gave the permission. “Officers generally take a few days to move to the new posting after their transfer. However, during this period, they are not supposed to take monetary or policy decisions, which should be left for the next officer. In this case, taking a monetary decision on his last working day was not correct,” the officer said. Police sources said that while permissions for three other hoardings at the spot were given to the same agency after tendering process, in the case of the hoarding that collapsed, even the tendering process was not carried out. “This is in gross violation of administrative norms and propriety. We will record the statements of GRP officials and take a decision on further action,” the official said. When contacted, Khalid declined to comment, however, a source close to him said, “It is true that he signed the approval after his transfer order was issued and on the last day of his duty, but the negotiations were on for a month. I don’t understand what wrong did he commit and which rule did he break if he signed it on the last day.” On giving approval for the collapsed hoarding without tendering process, the person said, “Earlier, for three hoardings, Ego Media had emerged the winner and so for the fourth hoarding (the one that collapsed) it was decided to offer to the same company on the same terms and conditions, without the formal tendering process.” Khalid is a 1997 batch additional director general (ADG) rank officer and is currently with the Protection of Civil Rights (PCR). The advertising agency owner, Bhavesh Bhinde, has been arrested for installing the hoarding without proper approvals. The SIT had also written to the Indian Railways to get clarity on whether the land belonged to them. Earlier, the accused had claimed that he didn’t take BMC permission as he was informed by GRP the land belonged to the Railways and thus was not in BMC jurisdiction. “The Indian Railways clarified through a letter on Sunday that the land did not belong to them. This means permission should have been taken from the BMC. It was not done,” the source said. The Indian Express had earlier reported that in 2023, a team from the BMC had inspected the hoarding site and raised objections regarding its structural stability and its size, which exceeded the permissible limits. The same was communicated to Ego Media Pvt Ltd. However, when the company said that they had the permission from GRP, the BMC raised it with the GRP. The GRP responded to their communication saying that the BMC cannot take action against any structure on a GRP property covered under the Railways Act. As the matter was taken to court by the BMC, and was ruled in favour of Railways in the High Court, the matter around jurisdiction, is currently in the Supreme Court. The SIT is likely to summon BMC officials to find how such a large hoarding was allowed to come up without them taking action. “Depending on the statements, the SIT will decide if the civics officials too are legally culpable,” an official said. The SIT has also gone through the property card of the two plots of land where the petrol pump stood. While one plot is in the name of the state home department, the other is under the name of Maharashtra State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation (MSPHC). In August 2021, the MSPHC had written to the DGP office, rejecting permission for setting up a petrol pump and hoarding as the land was meant for police housing.
