Mumbai Mirror: Mumbai: Saturday,
August 06, 2016.
Principal
secretary Manukumar Srivastava asks Collector Ashwini Joshi to submit the
inquiry report by Tuesday.
The World
Trade Centre (WTC) at Cuffe Parade has come under the state government scanner
for alleged financial irregularities and misuse of property, besides purported
violations of the lease agreement.
The Revenue
Department has ordered a probe based on a report compiled by the then collector
CV Oak and deputy secretary (revenue) SS Patil. The report was forwarded to the
chief secretary Jayant Banthia, and former additional chief secretary (revenue)
Swadheen Kshatriya, the seniormost IAS officer in the state who is now the
chief secretary.
One of the
major points of contention raised by the bureaucrats is the alleged diversion
of funds generated by the WTC to a business association formed by the centre's
president Kamal Morarka, the former Union minister, and vice-president Vijay
Kalantri, the veteran industrialist.
Other
allegations include allotting space to a restaurant in the refuge area, and
sanctioning the construction of a luxury hotel without permission.
The
restaurant is allegedly run by the relatives of Kalantri, and the staff was
questioned last week by the Excise Department following complaints that it was
selling alcohol without permission.
The WTC came
up in 1970, on the land allotted by the government. Its main building, the
30-storey M Visvesaraya Industrial Research and Development Centre (MVIRDC),
was the tallest structure in the city before the Imperial residential towers at
Tardeo came up in 2010.
The lease
agreement between the government and the WTC said that the centre will use the
property to host trade and industrial exhibitions, promote trade in
Maharashtra, and set up world class facilities such as business centres and
auditoriums.
The centre's
primary task is to fund and maintain a scientific research centre, and hand
over 50% of the earnings to the state government, after paying the property
rent, electricity bills, and staff salaries. One of the main clauses of the
agreement was the WTC would be a non-profit venture.
Sources in
the state bureaucracy said that the centre came on the government radar after
the June 2012 Mantralaya fire. "We were looking to shift the Home and
Revenue departments out of Mantralaya, and approached the WTC office-bearers,
who appeared extremely edgy," Banthia told Mumbai Mirror.
"We
spoke to Kamal Morarka who insisted on discussing the rent, despite the fact
that the WTC had come up on the government land. In fact, the then additional
chief secretary (Home) Amitabh Rajan and Swadheen Kshatriya were not even
allowed inside the building," Banthia said.
The review of
the WTC accounts revealed large-scale earnings that were never shared with the
state. "We spoke to Vijay Kalantri and demanded answers regarding lease
violations but there was no explanation," Banthia said. In March this
year, principal secretary (revenue) Manukumar Srivastava asked city collector
Ashwini Joshi to complete the inquiry into alleged violations by the WTC. A
hearing into the matter has been scheduled on August 9.
Meanwhile, a
body called the MVIRDC Lessees' Association wrote to Chief Minister Devendra
Fadnavis that an association formed by Morarka and Kalantri - the All India
Association of Industries (AIAI) - was virtually controlling the WTC.
Jaideep
Sajdeh, secretary of the MVIRDC Lessees' Association, said, "The AIAI,
formed in 1996 and which conducts its businesses from the WTC, has nothing to
do with the objectives of the WTC. Morarka and Kalantri have personal reasons
to involve the AIAI into the functioning of the WTC."
Sajdeh
further said that Morarka and Kalantri have been holding office for the last 20
years claiming to be government nominees, but queries filed under the RTI Act
revealed there was no such record to prove the state had ratified their
appointment.
When Mirror
contacted Morarka and Kalantri, they insisted that the queries be directed to
the WTC executive director YR Warerkar, who threatened this newspaper of legal
action if the story was published.
Warerkar said
in an email, "The questions raised by you are irrelevant and incorrect. We
would like to mention that we are not compelled to reply to the queries raised
by the lessees' association, but since you have mentioned the state government
officials, we take cognisance of the same and would like to know their names,
as from our discussions with the state government officials, they have not
agreed to your allegations. We believe that no government official could have
possibly told you that they have not received their share of earnings from the
MVIRDC."
Warerkar's
communication further said that Mirror's queries had been forwarded to the WTC
lawyers. "In the meanwhile, if you choose to publish the matter, you shall
be doing so at your risk as to all the consequences thereof," Warerkar's
email said.
Several
activists have also alleged that the WTC was silent on queries filed under the
RTI Act. One such activist, Sanjay Kokate from Cuffe Parade, said, "I have
filed more than two queries under the RTI Act on the functioning of the WTC,
but there has been no answer."