Alleging that a private developer made profits of over Rs. 5000 crore at the expense of the state government, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Maharashtra Legislature has recommended a SIT probe coupled with a CBI inquiry into the construction of New Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi as well as Andheri RTO and High Mount Guest House.

The PAC report which is headed by BJP MLA Girish Bapat said the CAG has already pointed out irregularities in the construction.
“The PAC spoke to departmental secretaries, sought written explanations and inspected the work done as well. The Committee is of the opinion that rules were not followed while getting work done from the developer. Proper MOU was not done and extensions were given which resulted in losses to the government. RTO’s testing track and residential building works are still incomplete and the quality of work is not good,” Bapat said while tabling the PAC report in the Legislative Assembly.

He said tenders were not issued and the government has not benefited in any way.

“The developer seems to have made profit of more than Rs. 5000 crore. All aspects of the project should be probed by a Special Investigative team (SIT) and the report should be submitted in six months. Since the project is inter-state, the probe should be handed over to the CBI after the SIT report is obtained,” he added.

Bapat said the Committee was not happy with the quality of work of the New Maharashtra Sadan.

“The consultant and architects appointed by the government have not done their work properly. We have suggested a third party audit in the work of New Maharashtra Sadan,” he said.

Bapat pointed out that the New Maharashtra Sadan has inadequate accommodation facilities for legislators and parliamentarians and more space for bureaucrats.

“The opening ceremony at the hands of the President was done of an incomplete construction,” the Committee said.

The High Mount Guest House re-development work has not been completed for 7-8 years and the developer has not been penalised by the government, the Committee said.

As part of the BOT arrangement, besides the new Maharashtra Sadan, the developer was to develop facilities at Andheri RTO, a SRA project and a guest house.

While the Shiv Sena has renominated several sitting MPs as candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, it will be fielding a few new faces from Mumbai. Although the city has long been its bastion it failed to win a single seat from Mumbai in the 2009 polls, largely because the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena floated by Raj Thackeray cut into the Shiv Sena vote.

In its first list released on Friday, the party has declared 15 of its 22 candidates. The party is contesting the polls in alliance with the BJP, the Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha and the Republican Party of India.

The new faces from Mumbai are MLC Arvind Sawant who will be fielded from Mumbai South. The party’s leader in the Mumbai Municipality Rahul Shewale will also be contesting parliamentary elections for the first time from Mumbai South Central. The party has renominated senior leader Gajanan Kirtikar from Mumbai North-West.

The party has renominated several sitting MPs including Anant Gite (Raigad), Anandrao Adsul (Amravati), Bhavana Gawli (Yavatmal-Washim), Chandrakant Khaire (Aurangabad) and Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil (Shirur).

Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray said the party will leave the Hathkanangle seat in western Maharashtra to its ally Raju Shetti of the Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha and the Satara seat to its ally the Republican Party of India.

A special MCOCA court on Friday remanded till March 13 the Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and his aide Asadullah Akhtar in judicial custody in connection with the July 13, 2011 Mumbai triple blasts case.

“The court has remanded Bhatkal and Akhtar to judicial custody till March 13 after we submitted to the court that the ATS intends to conduct their identification parade in jail,” special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told in Mumbai on Friday. Accepting Mr.Nikam’s plea, designated Judge Yatin D. Shinde remanded the duo in judicial custody. Later, Mr.Nikam had also moved another application seeking not to lodge Bhatkal and Akhtar in the high security Arthur Road jail but to Thane jail. Mr. Nikam told the court that the duo should not be kept at Arthur Road jail as “certain miscreants in Arthur Road jail would endanger their lives.”

Three powerful blasts had ripped through the crowded areas in Mumbai on July 13, 2011, killing at least 21 people and injuring 141. Five accused — Naquee Ahmed, Nadeem Shaikh, Kanwar Pathrija, Haroon Naik and Mohammed Qafeel Ansari — who were held in the case, are facing trial under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other laws.
Those wanted in the case are Riyaz Bhatkal, who is also a top operative of the alleged home-grown terror outfit, Waqas Ibrahim Sad, Dubai-based Muzaffar Kolah and Tehseen Akhtar Shaikh, the police said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested Yasin Bhatkal (30), who is wanted in over 40 terror cases and carries a reward of Rs. 35 lakh, as well as Akhtar, from the Indo-Nepal border on the night of August 28 last year. Bhatkal, who hails from Bhatkal village of Udupi district in North Karnataka, is wanted in a string of terror attacks in Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad, the agency had said. Bhatkal, who was earlier associated with banned outfit SIMI, is suspected to have allegedly conspired along with others to “wage war against India.”

The Bombay High Court today rejected the plea of Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) and its promoter Jignesh Shah to stay the order of Forwards Market Commission asking them to bring down its shareholding in Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) from 26 per cent to 2 per cent.
A bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka refused to grant interim relief to FTIL after FMC objected, saying this would not be in public interest.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by FTIL and its promoter challenging the recent FMC order which ruled that both were not fit to run any stock exchange in the country and asked for reducing its shareholding in MCX to 2 per cent.

The court had earlier clubbed all the PILs filed by the investors in the Rs. 5500 crore scam involving National Spot Exchange Ltd, also founded by Shah.

FTIL Counsel Janak Dwarkadas made a statement before the court assuring that Shah and FTIL would not exercise control over MCX either through the shareholding or through the Board.

However, FMC, replying to such assurance, said that its order of reducing FTIL’s shareholding in MCX should not be stayed as this would not be in public interest.

Dwarkadas also said that the 26 per cent shareholding of FTIL in MCX would not cause any prejudice to shareholders. Criminal cases filed against NSEL were pending and probe was in progress. In the midst of these developments, such an order passed by FMC was not proper, he said.

FTIL argued that it was being targeted by FMC, though investigating agencies has not held them guilty so far.

FTIL counsel said the FMC had merely held that Shah and his company were not fit enough to run any stock exchange but the market regulator had not directly ordered them to reduce the shareholding in MCX.

FMC counsel Iqbal Chhagla said, “We are not holding them guilty, we are just saying that they are not fit to run any stock exchange. It cannot be argued by them (FTIL) that Shah was not aware of what was going on (in the scam-tainted organisation).”

“To say that FTIL knows nothing of what was happening in its subsidiary company would not be correct,” he said.

However, FTIL Counsel said that it cannot be argued that if one director (Shah) had the knowledge (of the scam), others also had the same knowledge.

Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal, who has been charged with raping a younger colleague, has been booked for illegal possession of a mobile phone in a Goa jail.

“A case has been registered against Tejpal under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prisons Act,” said Superintendent of Police (South) Vijay Singh.

Officials of the Sada Sub jail, located 40 kms from Panaji, found seven mobiles in the prison during a routine check on Monday. One of it was allegedly found under the bedding used by Mr Tejpal.

The police said that Mr Tejpal has been booked under Sections 120, 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 130 (aiding other criminals) and 188 (violating jail rules) of the Indian Penal
Code and Section 46 of the Prisons Act which could curtail facilities given to him.

Mr Tejpal, 50, has been behind bars since November last year for allegedly raping a junior woman colleague during an event in Goa.

The Goa Crime branch has filed a charge sheet against him for rape, outraging modesty and sexual harassment of a woman journalist.

Mr. Tejpal has filed a petition seeking bail before Goa bench of Bombay High Court. It will be heard on March 4.

Lieutenant Commander Kapish Muwal was 32 years old, Lieutenant Manoranjan Kumar was 30. Both the young men, officers of the Indian Navy, died saving other sailors when a fire broke out on their submarine, the INS Sindhuratna early on Wednesday.

Navy personnel gathered in Mumbai to lay wreaths and pay tribute to the officers

Their families are disconsolate. Ashish, brother of Lt Commander Muwal, said, “If my brother was here, he would have told me, I would have loved to die in battle…this is embarrassing. This is not death fit for a defence officer.”

He said his brother had told him that the INS Sindhuratna was not fit to go to sea. “My brother knew the submarine was defective. Everyone knew it was defective. It was sent for trial one last time. It was only for one day and it proved fatal. It is a bad joke which has taken two precious lives.”

At Lt Cdr Manoranjan Kumar’s home in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, no one dared break the news to his mother on Thursday. The family reportedly disconnected its cable TV connection and stopped all visitors from coming home.

“Manoranjan studied engineering for four years before joining the navy. He was the brightest in the family…it is a shock for us,” said his cousin Rajesh Kumar. The officer’s father has left for Mumbai to bring back his body. The officer was reportedly engaged to be married.

The officers’ bodies were found in an airtight compartment of the submarine after it was brought to the Naval harbour in Mumbai. Seven sailors had been airlifted to hospital soon after smoke was detected in the submarine, which was being sea-tested after a refit.

A battery leak had reportedly started the fire, and poisonous fumes from fire extinguishers filled two compartments.

Survivors say the two officers pushed their comrades out of the compartments and were checking to see whether anyone was left when a hatch closed, trapping them inside.

Their bodies were reportedly bloated and disfigured due to hours of exposure to toxic gases.

Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi cited a series of accidents on his watch while resigning on Wednesday.

The Maharashtra government faced flak from the Bombay High Court for failing to implement orders passed by the court since 2010 regarding appointment of protection officers for each taluka as provided under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.

A division bench of Justices S J Vazifdar and B P Colabawala has now given the High Power Committee of the government’s Women and Child Welfare department a week’s time to clear the proposal and forward it to the finance department.

The finance department shall then process and clear the proposal within a week thereafter, the court ordered.

“This is the last time we are requesting the government to implement orders passed by this court since 2010. The next time, we will get serious. By now the whole process should have been completed. This is not correct. The next time we will take some unpleasant steps against the secretaries of the concerned departments,” the bench warned.

As per the proposal, 2164 protection officers would be appointed across talukas in the state. Under the DV Act, a protection officer shall conduct inquiry into allegations of domestic violence and arrange for meetings if needed between the disputing parties.

“By end of next week, we want the committee to clear the proposal and send it to the finance department. It appears that the finance department had taken certain objections earlier. We direct the finance department to process the proposal and consider it to the extent it deems fit,” the court said.

The court will hear the petition on March 7 for compliance.