The Maharashtra government on Tuesday informed the Bombay high court that it would take action before January 21 against guilty officers and beneficiaries of double or multiple allotments of flats under the chief minister’s discretionary quota.
The deputy secretary of urban development department, D. Yadav, informed the court that all the concerned authorities have been directed to take action before January 21, 2016 against the guilty offices and those who have obtained more than one flats under the CM’s discretionary quota.
In the meantime, public prosecutor Dr F.R. Shaikh also stated before the court that the action against the guilty would be based on suggestions given by the high court-appointed committee of retired Justice J.A. Patil which probed the double or multiple allotments of flats from the CM’s quota.
The bench, on October 9 last year, had appointed Justice Patil to probe the allegations of double or multiple allotments of flats hearing a public interest litigation filed by activist Ketan Tirodkar. Mr Tirodkar had alleged that many people got more than one flat under the CM’s quota by making false declarations. It said most beneficiaries are politicians or those who are close to them.
The committee was asked to probe double or multiple allotments of flats under the CM’s quota since 1982 and recommend action to be taken against the beneficiaries. The committee had suggested that the government would immediately take possession of such flats and if the beneficiaries already sold them then they would have to pay the difference between the prevailing rates of the ready reckoner and the price they had got at the time of sale of the houses.
The division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Gautam Patel took on record the affidavit filed by Mr Yadav and adjourned the matter by a month to enable the government file an Action Taken Report (ATR). The allotment under the CM's quota has now been stopped following the high court’s order.
