Netas gift cheap Mhada property to friends, kin

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has told the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) not to implement any directive received from the state government in the matter of disbursement of prime plots until further orders from the court.
Highly placed sources in Mhada alleged that a majority of these plots had been virtually gifted to friends, relatives and political cronies of ministers in the Maharashtra government.
“There is no system to check the authenticity or credibility of the people to whom these lands are given at throwaway prices,’’ they said.
Last May, a 23,000-squarefoot plot at Vinoba Bhave Nagar in Kurla was allotted to a trust formed by the family of minister of state for housing Nawab Malik, for the relatively small sum of Rs 15 lakh.
Early this year, prime suburban housing board plots were allotted to educational institutions controlled by senior ministers in the DF government.
These institutions are associated with finance minister Jayant Patil, industries minister Patangrao Kadam and housing minister Sayed Ahmed. Interestingly, Malik, Kadam and Ahmed are members of the sub-committee which decides on the allotments.
Now Mhada has reached a stage where it has very few plots left to disburse. “Soon Regulation 16 will become redundant because there are barely two dozen plots left,’’ the source said.