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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, November 9: A charitable trust, which owned a residential building in Tardeo now collapsed, is being accused of forging signatures of its tenants to bag the contract for reconstruction of the structure.
Tenants of Tardeo Mansion No. 2 cooperative housing society (proposed) have asked the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police to investigate the forged documents which their landlord Sheth Lalji Dayalji Amalgamated Charities Trust had submitted to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). The three-storeyed building at 32-G Tulsiwadi, collapsed on July 27, 1985, and the tenants have since been accommodated at a MHADA transit camp in Gorai. A D Fernandes, secretary of the society, alleged that the trust submitted a forged joint memorandum of the tenants (dated September 16, 1997) to MHADA for its approval (A copy of the document is in possession of Express Newsline). He revealed that one of the signatures on the memorandum was of a tenant Thelma Rowe, a non-resident Indian (NRI), who has been staying in Riyadh, for the last 14 years. In an affidavit, she has denied signing any papers with the trust.
Another tenant, Vasant Dhruv whose signature appears on the memorandum died on March 25, 1988. It also carries signatures of 2 persons, who were never tenants of the building, Fernandes said. “We came to know about the forgery when they received a letter from MHADA Chairman Madhu Chavan that 15 tenants have given their consent to the trust for redevelopment of the property,” Fernandes added. He alleged the joint memorandum carried only 13 signatures, while the trust claims to have consent from 15 tenants. In September Express Newsline had reported that following former housing minister Chandrakant Khaire’s order MHADA had invited Manubhai C Marfatia, an alleged trustee of Sheth Lalji Trust, to reconstruct the building despite strong opposition by the tenants.
The land was acquired by MHADA and plans for a reconstruction scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 98.02 lakh were also approved by the state government. The reconstruction should have commenced in 1995-96, but the delay has now led to the land being encroached upon.
Trust spokesman N J Thakkar said, “A handful of tenants are unnecessarily creating hurdles. Even MHADA has agreed to our proposal in principle as it does not have the money to construct a new building. We are ready to give the tenants a larger area and better amenities in the new building.”
