An RTI activist here alleged that the Maharashtra government has granted ‘Freedom Fighter’ status to as many as 88 people in the state in violation of the set norms and has sought reversal of the decision.

The reply furnished in response to an RTI query by activist Anil Galgali said that the state government accorded Freedom Fighter status to 88 people, from January 1 to June 15 this year, on the basis of various attachment warrants (a document issued to them during the British rule) admitted as proof of their participation in the freedom struggle.

The activist alleged that this was a “flawed” and “corrupt” act, as a commission constituted by the previous government in the state had rendered void the said system of identification.

“This was in complete contravention to the General Resolution (GR) issued by the previous state government, that had constituted Justice Palkar Commission on the recommendation of the Supreme Court,” Galgali said.

As per the reply by the Under Secretary of General Administration Department (GAD) H J Rasal, the decision to honour with Freedom Fighter status was taken on the basis of various Attachment Warrants.

The decision to grant the status, which would make these 88 people eligible for a monthly pension of Rs 10,000, was taken without approval or recommendation of the respective District Felicitation Committees (DFCs), the reply stated.

Terming this as a “scam”, the activist added, “The case of (one) Prabhu Laxman Sanap was one such example when the attachment warrants produced by him to get Freedom Fighter status were found to be fraudulent, that had led to his claim being rejected by the government on November 25, 2002.”

“Despite this precedent being present in the records, the Devendra Fadnavis government showed complete favouritism, bypassed laid down procedures and granted Freedom Fighter status to 88 people, which is a clear case of corruption,” Galgali alleged.

A minor girl was allegedly raped by a 25-year-old man in Mumbra in the district, following which he was arrested, police said.

As per the complaint filed by the victim’s mother, the accused, identified as Shabbir Mulani, who was their neighbour, raped her 17-year-old daughter in May and threatened her with life not to reveal the incident to anyone, Inspector R K Tayde of Mumbra police station said.

The girl got pregnant and two months later, Mulani pressurised her to abort the foetus, failing which he force-fed her abortion tablets, he said.

A case has been registered against the accused under sections 376 (punishment for rape), 312 (causing miscarriage) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of IPC and also under relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he added.

The Bombay High Court expressed displeasure with several authorities, responsible for maintaining public roads and footpaths, for failing to comply with its order directing them to take steps to make roads pothole-free.

Granting the authorities two weeks time, the court also warned to initiate contempt proceedings against them if they continue to defy the diktat.

The High Court had on May 20 observed that citizens have a fundamental right to good roads and that it is the state government’s statutory obligation to provide roads which are pothole-free.

The court had then passed several directions to authorities like BMC, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Mumbai Port Trust and others who have control over roads in the city to ensure that potholes are repaired before the onsent of monsoon and submit compliance report by July 10.

The court also directed all civic bodies in the state, MMDRA, MSRDC and Mumbai Port Trust to provide a mechanism to enable citizens to file complaints about the poor condition of roads. “The facility of receiving complaints shall be made throughout the year. Websites shall be designed in such a way that citizens can upload photos of the roads and also track their complaints,” the court had said.

“Unless there is an effective mechanism provided to the citizens to file complaints, they will not be in a position to enforce their constitutional as well as legal right to have well-maintained streets,” the court had said.

When the matter came up for hearing today before a division bench of Justices A S Oka and Revati Mohite-Dhere, barring BMC all the other authorities had filed affidavits stating what steps they have taken.

The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to expeditiously appoint a judicial member at the children remand home in Umerkhadi in South Mumbai to ensure speedy disposal of cases involving children in conflict with law.

A division bench of justices V M Kanade and B P Colabawala directed the government to appoint a judicial member within four weeks in the children’s home in Umerkhadi where there is a juvenile justice board. It also asked the government to check availability of members and staff at other juvenile justice boards in the state and if there is any vacancy then to take steps to fill it up.

The court had taken suo motu cognisance of the June 4 report of the principal magistrate, City Juvenile Justice Board, raising concerns over the condition of juveniles lodged in remand and shelter homes across the city. The report had stated that children are ragged physically and mentally and are also sexually abused.

Recently, 17-year-old boy died at the David Sassoon children home in Matunga following an alleged assault by other inmates.

The government today informed the court that pursuant to the incident, 42 children from Matunga home have been shifted to the children home in Umerkhadi. The court was also informed that CCTV cameras have been installed inside the remand home.

The court while observing that substantial steps are being taken for safety of inmates, has directed the state to file additional affidavit by four weeks.

The Enforcement Directorate, which has registered two cases against former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, conducted searches at the offices of a firm which was involved in the construction of Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi.

“We have conducted searches at two premises of Prime Builders and Developers who were the financial partners of Chamankar Associates (which constructed Maharashtra Sadan),” said an ED official.

Earlier the ED had conducted searches at the offices of Chamankar Associates too. The contract awarded to Chamankar Associates has been questioned for alleged irregularities.

According to the Maharashtra anti-corruption bureau, after the contract for Maharashtra Sadan was granted to Chamankar, a huge amount of money was allegedly transferred from the partners of Chamankar Associates to firms directly or indirectly controlled by Bhujbal or his family members.

Last month the ED had registered two Enforcement Case Information Reports under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Bhujbal, an NCP leader, suspecting illegal transactions to the tune of Rs 900 crore.

The first case by ED pertains to the Maharashtra Sadan scam and Kalina land allotment case while the second case relates to a housing project at Navi Mumbai.

The Aam Aadmi Party will expand its students and youth wing across Maharashtra within a month in order to reach out to the young generation, a state party leader said on Friday.

The AAP’s state unit had announced the launch of its Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS)- a student and youth wing along with ‘Graduate’s Forum’ – with the purpose of making a foray into student politics.

“We would be having six regions. Dr. Sushant Bolkar has been appointed as head of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR),” AAP’s Maharashtra unit executive member and CYSS in-charge Farooque Ahmed said.

“In the other five regions of Konkan, North Maharashtra, Western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha, the heads would be appointed soon,” he said.

“Youth are the foundation of tomorrow’s India and have a crucial role to play in reforming politics. CYSS is an honest attempt to create leaders and allocate responsible positions to youth,” AAP’s state convener Subhash Ware said.

“AAP has initiated its foray into student politics and going by the enormous support from students and party’s cadre, the CYSS will emerge as a force to reckon with across the state,” he said.

He alleged that traditional political parties haven’t done justice to students’ issues.

“They have merely reduced the students to pawn in the game of petty politics. This is exactly what CYSS is attempting to change,” Ware added.

Monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature, beginning July 13, is expected to be a stormy one with allegations against some of the high profile ministers giving ample ammunition to the Congress-NCP opposition to corner the BJP-led government headed by Devendra Fadnavis.

Apart from controversies centering BJP ministers Pankaja Munde and Vinod Tawde, spurt in cases of farmers’ suicide, flaws in loan waiver scheme and law and order situation are expected to rock both the Legislative Assembly and Council right from the day one.

While Congress has threatened to disrupt the proceedings in both the Houses until the ministers confronting corruption charges “resigned on moral grounds and faced enquiry,” the NCP will be focusing on the Government’s “failure” on loan waiver for debt-ridden farmers and flaws in the crop insurance scheme.

“The BJP government has been hit by scams even before it completed one year in power. It lacks accountability with the Chief Minister himself defending his cabinet colleagues, instead of asking them to resign and face enquiry,” said Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

“First it was Education Minister Vinod Tawde who allegedly forged educational certificates and then Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde, who has been accused of awarding contracts worth Rs. 206 crore,” he said.

It was Fadnavis himself who announced the Government decision to e-tender all contracts worth more than Rs. 3 lakh on the floor of the House during the winter session. What was the hurry (on the part of Munde) to award contracts based on the rate contract system?” he asked.

“All this has created a cloud of suspicion. It will not clear till the ministers come clean after an enquiry,” he said.

Leader of Opposition in state Council, Dhananjay Munde of the NCP, said there has already been a shortfall in rains this year and farmers cannot sow new crops till their loans were waived.

“The NCP leaders have toured the drought-affected regions and also apprised the CM with the worsening situation. We requested him that loans should be waived off for farmers of 24,000 villages that have been declared drought-hit. But, that is yet to happen,” Munde rued.

“The law and order situation is also going from bad to worse. BJP’s own ally Shiv Sena is blaming the government on this issue. The government needs to answer us on this,” he said.

In compliance with a Bombay High Court order, Maharashtra government has decided to entrust the responsibility of maintenance of roads on the municipal corporations of respective cities in the state.

In a government resolution (GR) issued by state Urban Development department yesterday, municipal corporations have been asked to make available a toll free number, dedicated website, text message or telephone receiving system to register all complaints related to bad roads, footpaths and path holes.

The state government has also asked the civic bodies to take cognisance of complaints filed by residents through the corporation’s website or through their cell phones and stipulate a time frame in which their complaints would be addressed.

“The maximum time a municipal corporation can take to address the problems of citizens is two weeks. Once complaints are addressed, corporations have been asked to upload the photographs of repaired road on the website and publish in a local newspaper,” an official from the UDD said.

“We have also asked corporations to upload on the website and in a local newspaper the mechanism through which roads, footpaths and path holes have been rectified,” the official added.

The official said that the civic bodies have also been asked to use modern scientific technique to repair roads, so that they do not get damaged frequently.

The state government has also warned all municipal commissioners to take ensure proper care in following the High Court’s orders or else they would be held responsible if there is a ‘contempt of court’.

A 40-year-old man allegedly committed suicide as he set himself a fire at his residence here due to marital discord, police said on Friday.

Hitesh Arya, 40, a resident of Vijay Annex society here, committed suicide by pouring in petrol and set himself ablaze inside the bathroom of his house yesterday, as he was constantly harassed by his wife, Kasarwadavali police station inspector PD Tele said.

His wife, Anagha Arya, 32, has been booked under charges of abetment of suicide in this regard, Tele said.

The couple got married in 2003 and have a son. According to complaint lodged by victim’s father, Hitesh and his wife often had quarrel over petty issues and Anagha used to even physically abuse him.

Fed up with the frequent harassment and torture by his wife, Hitesh decided to end his life, the complainant alleged.

The body has been sent for postmortem and a case has been booked under IPC section 306 (abetment of suicide) against the woman, the officer added.