July 26, 2009 2:24:35 am
The standing committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Friday gave approval to appoint a lawyer,who will study the intricacies of the Kothrud TDR scam and represent the Pune civic body at the Bombay High Court for the same.
The Kothrud TDR scam had created a furore in the city in 2005.
In March this year,the civic panel had decided to form a committee to seek the opinion of legal experts on the Kothrud TDR scam. However,the Bombay High Court had immediately issued a stay order on this decision saying the move to appoint a panel was a sheer waste of public money.
Chairman of the standing committee,Nilesh Nikam said,Following the Anti Corruption Bureaus (ACB) letter to PMC seeking its nod to book six civic officials allegedly involved in the scam,the standing committee had decided to appoint a three-member panel to study the technicalities. However,the high court had stayed the move. Meanwhile,there was nobody to represent PMC in high court. Therefore,we have decided to appoint a lawyer now.
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However,Shiv Sena insisted on initiating departmental inquiry against these six officials to probe whether they had indulged in any irregularities. However,all other parties demanded that the issue was on the agenda and could be discussed later. Shiv Senas insistence led to voting.
The PMC had sought permission from the standing committee in November 2008 to allow ACB to book six civic officials allegedly involved in the scam.
Special meeting on octroi
The standing committee is going to discuss issues pertaining to the octroi collection,which is on the wane. Next week,we have convened a special meeting on octroi. This year,the civic administration had given a target of Rs 814 crore while the civic panel had set a target of Rs 910 crore. However,taking all the factors into consideration,this years octroi collection is likely to go down by Rs 150 crore.
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