Journalism of Courage
Prithviraj Chavan should use the Adarsh embarrassment to press for greater real estate reform
The Maharashtra government has been publicly shown up by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhis remarks on the Adarsh housing scam. Now,ally NCP has vocally backed a review of the state cabinets decision to summarily reject a judicial panels report on irregularities in land clearance and allotment of flats. While the Justice J.A. Patil-headed commission had identified networks of political patronage,and named Congress leaders like Sushilkumar Shinde,Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan,it had not spelt out any course of action for the government,given that the CBI was also conducting an investigation into who benefited from the decisions,the nature of quid pro quo etc. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is now placed in a difficult bind,of having to take on powerful predecessors in Maharashtra or contradict Rahul Gandhis posture and feed the public anger over corruption. The question,though,is why it should take Narendra Modis taunting or Rahul Gandhis prodding for the state government to give the judicial commissions report a full hearing.
Prithviraj Chavan had taken some modest steps towards reducing this murk. He tried to dilute the chief ministers discretionary powers,which allowed him to allot a certain share of flats built by the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority,and on land given under the urban ceiling act a power intended to expand housing for the public,but one that ends up serving government officials and their families. He had also tried to make concessions transparently available to builders on the payment of a premium,taking away the BMCs power to allow relaxations on a case-by-case basis. But ultimately,only auctions can establish the best price for land. Now that Chavan has been forced to respond more sincerely to the Adarsh case,he should use the chance to press for more far-reaching reform in land and real estate,despite the short-term political costs.
