Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Wednesday said it
would scrutinise documents on allocation of MHADA flats to
over 200 serving and former state legislators, following
allegations that even those owning a house applied for the
flats.
"Nothing will be done against the rules. Flats will be
made available only to those who fulfil the norms," Chief
Minister Ashok Chavan said.
The high income group (HIG) flats, located in suburban
Mumbai, were to be handed over today.
However, shortly after Chavan's announcement, Maharashtra
Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) clarified that
it has not initiated "any inquiry against any MLA, MLC and
ministers who applied for the flats as no official complaint
has been received."
"How can we set up an inquiry if there are no complaints?
Even if there is one complaint, we can initiate an inquiry. It
would be wrong for us to doubt credentials of the applicants,"
MHADA's chief vigilance and security officer Jawahar Singh
said.
"We will inquire if any minister or legislator has been
allotted flats in MHADA HIG scheme in suburban Mumbai despite
their possessing a house in the city," Minister of State for
Housing, Sachin Ahir said.
"I have asked MHADA officers to check if the applicants
have other flats in Mumbai. If they do, they will not qualify
for the scheme," Chavan said.
"In case if we find any such applicant during scrutiny,
then as per the law, we book the applicant under Section 420
of IPC for cheating. This law is applicable to every citizen
irrespective of caste, creed or race. It is also applicable to
the public representatives," Singh said.
Prominent among the applicants are Cooperatives Minister
Harshawardhan Patil, Home Minister RR Patil, Minister of State
for Urban Development Bhaskar Jadhav, Tribal Development
Minister Babanrao Pachpute, MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre and BJP
state unit chief Sudhir Mungantiwar.
The government will issue showcause notices to those
found guilty, Ahir said.
Last August, the state government issued orders to allot
the apartments, for which lakhs apply when MHADA conducts a
public lottery. The applicants gave a written undertaking that
none of them owned a house in Mumbai.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 20:30