Indian Express: Mumbai: Thursday, June 22, 2017.
An affordable
homes project for the public was shelved for a proposed high-rise society for
Bombay High Court judges in Mumbai.
The Indian
Express had Tuesday reported that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had
sanctioned an exclusive housing scheme for the serving judicial officers on a
32,300-square-foot public land parcel in Oshiwara.
According to
the scheme, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) will
build 84 homes, each with 1,076 sq ft carpet area, which would be offered to
the judges on ownership basis. While the construction of the high-rise is yet
to commence, the government has so far approved memberships of 39 judges.
Documents
accessed under the RTI Act reveal that MHADA had planned affordable housing
scheme for the middle income group (MIG) on the same plot.
On the file,
then MHADA vice-president Sambhaji Zende noted that the agency had on August
14, 2014, obtained the Mumbai municipality’s clearance for the MIG scheme.
The approval
for building 164 homes, was in place. These homes were to be allotted after a
public lottery. Zende had noted that a private contractor had been issued a
letter of intent for the project, before the government issued directives to
build the judges’ society.
Fadnavis
insisted that everything was done in accordance with the law.
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