Smita Thackeray trust lets out leased govt plot to restaurant

Originally meant to be shopping complex,trust had to use plot within 3 years.

Smita Thackeray-led Mukti Foundation,which was leased a 18,512-sq ft plot in 1999 in the prime Four Bungalows locality in Mumbais suburb of Andheri at hugely concessional rates for a community centre,is yet to complete its construction work. Pending this,the trust has already rented out a portion of the plot to a popular restaurant chain for a restaurant and lounge facility.

Originally meant to be auctioned as a shopping complex,the plot was leased to the trust on September 22,1999,for a period of 30 years at Rs 11,296 per year. The trust was to make use of the plot for the said purpose within three years. However,14 years later,the trust is yet to complete construction work for an auditorium proposed to serve as a community centre.

When contacted,Allwyn Rodrigues,administration head of Mukti Foundation,said the auditorium work will take another four to five months to complete.

A government official said,Mukti is yet to pay licence fee sought for allowing commercial exploitation. While the states Revenue department gave permission for commercial exploitation of 15 per cent of built-up area on November 18,2006,Mukti was yet to pay a licence fee of Rs 6.27 lakh per annum. Official documents accessed by Mumbai Newsline reveal that the Collectors office has raised the demand. But Rodrigues said they were yet to receive a communication in this regard. The restaurant facility has begun barely a month-and-a-half ago, he said.

Mukti has built a nine-storey building on the land. Besides the proposed 450-seater auditorium on the facilitys second floor,approved building plans reveal that a clinic and office spaces are proposed to come up on the remaining floors. The interior work on the floors is all that remains, Rodrigues said.

The private restaurant facility has come up on another four-storey structure on the plot.

Mukti has also allegedly encroached on an additional 5,488 sq ft portion of plot abutting the land allotted to it.

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On April 20,2006,following an on-site inspection,the town planning department claimed that post-allotment,Mukti had encroached on the portion situated between the allotted land and a road.

Refuting these allegations,Rodrigues said the trust had first approached the government about differences in the actual plot area allotted to it and the allotment order. On February 6,2009,Thackeray wrote to the suburban collector asking him to rectify this and issue a property card in the Foundations name. While the government has shown willingness to regularise this additional area,the issue is pending due to differences that have surfaced regarding the lease rent and its arrears.

With the terms of allotment stipulating a rent revision after 10 years,the collectors office has claimed that Mukti was liable to pay revised rents since 2009. Including the valuation for the additional area,it has now raised a rent bill of Rs 1.15 crore.

However,Mukti has opposed this and has sought rent revision to be considered from 2013 onwards.

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The government had stayed the original order immediately after allotment. This was only lifted in 2013, Rodrigues said. He also cited this as a prime reason for the delay in construction,the other reasons being delays in approvals and damages suffered during the July 26,2005 deluge.