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.