More govt largesse for Goregaon builder

Mumbai, FEBRUARY 5: As thousands of litigants, lawyers and judges of lower courts in Mumbai continue to suffer due to abysmal infrastruct...

Mumbai, FEBRUARY 5: As thousands of litigants, lawyers and judges of lower courts in Mumbai continue to suffer due to abysmal infrastructure, a construction company which reneged on its promise to build a court building in Goregaon east is being showered with favours by the government. As reported in Express Newsline Aditya Constructions and Developers Private Limited ACDPL not only backtracked on the execution of an agreement with the state to construct a building for courts in lieu of permission to develop a 10 lakh sq feet plot, it made over Rs 100 crore in profits by selectively exploiting some provisions of the agreement that allowed it to develop the land and sell it in open market.

Now, in a shocking development the Housing Department has permitted ACDPL to further develop half of the plot reserved for court building 1,03,060 sq ft and construct the court building on remaining half at current rates of construction. The department has cited a 1990 Supreme Court judgment to justify itsdecision. The SC had ruled that if a plot to which provisions of the Urban Land Ceiling Act were applicable was not developed within 10 years of the agreement being signed, the developer could retain half of the plot.

The agreement between the state and ACDPL was, however, made way back in 1983 and it is doubtful if the 1990 SC judgment is applicable in this case.

Going by present land prices, ACDPL will get the plot valued at Rs 5 crore absolutely free of cost. Add to this the profit the company will make after developing the plot. Quite surprisingly, however, Housing Secretary V P Raja is not aware of any such permission given to ACDPL by his department. Making the matter worse, the Housing Department has not bothered to intimate the other two government departments equally involved in the case 8211; the Public Works Department and the Law and Judiciary Department.

Deputy Secretary, Housing Department, U V Marathe, who on February 2 issued the orders was not available for comment. Housing Secretary V PRaja told Newsline: 8220;I am extremely busy with other more important matters. As I have told you, I have not applied my mind to the case as yet.8221; PWD secretary A B Pawar is in Goa. His deputy D V Sathe said he was not aware of the decision adding that his role was limited to evaluating the estimates prepared by ACDPL according to prevailing construction rates.

Meanwhile, litigants and lawyers in lower courts continue to suffer due to lack of infrastructure. The list of courts that are operating out of decrepit, congested buildings is considerably long 8211; the Industrial court, the Labour court, the Cooperation Court, the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal MAT, the Central Administrative Tribunal, the Motor Accidents Tribunal, the Small Causes Court, the Family Court, the Metropolitan Magistrates8217; Courts in suburbs, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Courts and the Economic Offences Courts. The government had plans to house all these courts at the proposed court building that ACDPL has sofar refused to build.

Recently, lawyers at the Labour court in Tardeo had gone on an indefinite strike after a part of ceiling in one of the courtrooms came down. The MAT is housed in barracks similar to a cement godown in front of Mantralaya. Other courts also face similar problems and it is becoming more and more difficult for the government to provide accomodation to the judges and the magistrates.

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immediately sensed something amiss and frantically asked him where he was taking me. But he only replied that he was a cop and that I should trust him. By now I was really frightened and tried to struggle but he kept going and took me to a train in the yard. The two men then lifted me into the compartment for the handicapped. The dark man then asked the fairer cop to shut the door and switched of the lights. He also asked him for something else a contraceptive and tried to remove my clothes.

He then flung me across the bench and jammed my neck under the handle of the seat, next to the window. He caughtboth my wrists in one hand and opened the salwar with his teeth. All the while I kept shouting and asking him to leave me at which he threatened me saying, 8220;Ek kana khali deu ka?8221; Should I box you? and proceeded to rape me.

Minutes later the fairer cop who had been watching all this while shouted, Koi aa raha hai.8217; Thats was when he got up and went away.8221;

After a while this girl jumped off the train and walked upto the Bandra railway police station at 12.50 am. On hearing her complaint, the officers there acted swiftly and sent two plainclothes policemen with her and arrested the two. The rapist Vijay Waghambare 22 and his partner Ashok Kumar Bakelal Choudhary 27 both RPF constables on duty are in police custody till February 11.

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Life has not been easy on the young victim even otherwise. She lost her father two years ago to asthama, and her mother and her five siblings were thrown out of their own pukka tenement at Santacruz by her uncle three months back. Her mother now sells vegetables atDadar and sleeps on the pavements. Her own meagre earning of Rs 400 per month were being used to repay back a loan. Her major concern right now is whether her employer will take her back. Sunita Sharma came to the police station after being informed of the incident but refused to sign any documents.

In these last hours, there has been just one sliver of hope: Her boyfriend, who works in a grocery store. For the first time, she smiles slightly shyly whispers that he told her this morning not to worry and that he would be willing to marry her.