The Maharashtra government on Monday informed the Bombay High Court that it had started taking action in cases of double allotment of houses to beneficiaries or their family members under Chief Minister’s discretionary quota but the petitioner disagreed saying the state had not done anything concrete in this regard.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by ex-scribe Ketan Tirodkar challenging double or multiple allotment of houses from the CM’s quota.

Tirodkar said the government had not taken action against those who were allotted more than one flats, either by filing FIR or cancelling their allotments. He said the list submitted by the state to the court was not exhaustive and some names of such double allottees were missing.

The government on Monday filed two affidavits stating what action they had taken against such beneficiaries of double allotment of flats from CM’s quota.

One of the affidavit said 14 cases were identified wherein the same person or his/her spouse had been allotted more than one house in state under the chief minister’s five per cent discretionary housing quota.

In two of these cases, the affidavit said, action had been initiated. In one case, FIR had been filed against the allottee by the competent authority and in the other; the state had taken back the tenement. The state is going to take appropriate legal action against the remaining allottees also.

The petitioner pointed out that it was wrongly stated in the government affidavit that a journalist couple, who were allotted two houses in their individual names in 1995, were not related to each other. However, in fact, they were happily married and staying together, he said.

A bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka then asked the petitioner to file an affidavit within a week pointing out such irregularities and also asked him to mention names of the beneficiaries whom he considered were double or multiple allottees of flats from CM’s quota.

The matter has been posted for further hearing on March 10.

An earlier affidavit said that the state government had detected 101 cases where blood relatives of allottees have been given houses from the CM’s quota in the same urban agglomeration or in other urban area.

Besides, ten cases have been identified where same persons have been allotted tenements in 2 per cent quota of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) as well as in 5 per cent quota under the Urban Land Ceiling Act, according to the affidavit filed by S K Salimath, Deputy Secretary, Urban Development Department.

The petitioner, Ketan Tirodkar, alleged that politicians and journalists were main beneficiaries of such allotments.

He said “resourceful” people were allotted flats at concessional rates from the CM’s discretionary quota, while the needy and common people were ignored.

Tirodkar gave examples of journalist-couples, who were allotted adjacent flats and cited names of some politicians and their kin who were given flats under the CM’s quota.

The petitioner has annexed to his PIL, a reply received under the Right To Information (RTI) Act from the state government, which included names of allottees from 1989 to 2010. However, it did not contain names of multiple allottees.

The Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Monday withdrew its no-confidence motion against Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil.

BJP legislator Devendra Phadanvis told the House that after discussions with Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse and group leaders, it has been decided against pressing for the one line motion – “Speaker of the Legislative Assembly be removed from his post” – to be taken up.

Enraged with the Speaker’s decision not to allow time for debate in the House during the winter session last December, the Opposition members had moved a no-confidence motion against the Chair.

The motion, listed in the day’s business, was moved by Khadse and supported by 38 other members.

The Opposition in Maharashtra Legislature on Monday shouted slogans against Governor K Sankaranarayanan accusing him of protecting corrupt ministers.

They raised slogans like “Governor go back”, “make Maharashtra toll free” when the Governor delivered his speech to the joint session of both Houses on the first day of the four-day Legislature session.

The protesting members were led by Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Vinod Tawde.

The Governor was targeted in view of his refusal to sanction CBI to prosecute former state Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh housing society scam.

In his 40-minute speech, Sankaranarayanan listed achievements of the Prithviraj Chavan-led government in the field of infrastructure, health, e-governance, industrial investment, social sector to uplift lives of poor and down trodden, and steps taken to tide over acute drought situation.

He said 4,484 kms road length out of 2.42 lakh kms has been developed by PWD, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation and National Highway Authority on Built Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.

So far, 67 toll plazas have been closed. For bringing uniform policy regarding projections to be implemented under public-private partnership scheme, a PPP toll policy is being considered by the government, he said, adding that the state has been able to attract highest foreign direct investment in the country.

The state has the highest 18 per cent share of investment amounting to Rs 10,21,633 crore in the total investment involved in industrial proposals filed with the Centre. Out of the 403 mega projects, 114 projects have gone into production, he said.

More than 8.7 crore residents have been enrolled and Aadhar cards have been generated for approximately 8.2 crore residents, which is the highest in the country, he said.

The Governor expressed satisfaction that the state has achieved remarkable success in reducing maternal mortality rate. The rate for country stands at 212 per one lakh live births, while in Maharashtra it is 104.

A 13-year-old school girl was allegedly raped by her classmate in a coaching centre in Kalyan, police said on Monday.

According to the police complaint lodged by the victim on Sunday, she was sexually assaulted by Santosh Pawar (23) on Valentine’s Day, which also happened to be her birthday.
Both the girl and the accused used to attend coaching classes together in Khadegolavali of Kalyan following which they became close friends, APSI V K Hirey of Kolshewadi Police Station said.

After her birthday celebrations, the girl was allegedly raped by Santosh on the terrace of the coaching class building.

Based on the complaint, police have registered an offence under section 376 of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012.

The duo lived in the same locality.

The furore over actor Sanjay Dutt’s parole extension refuses to die down and now the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought a report from the Maharashtra Government on the same.

Dutt was convicted by the Supreme Court for illegal possession of arms in relation to the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case and was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment.

Dutt had served 18 months of his jail term earlier and had surrendered himself to the TADA court on May 18th, 2013 to serve the remaining punishment.

In less than a year, he had been granted parole three times by the Maharashtra Govt. The 54-year-old actor has been out on parole since December 21 and was going to return to the Yerawada Jail in Pune on February 21.

Dutt had again applied for parole in order to attend his ailing wife and look after his twin children. And his wish was granted! His parole was again extended till 21st March.

The repeated extension of parole to the actor has triggered criticism from several quarters and accusations that the Maharashtra government is trying to save the actor.

The MHA bogged down by the societal pressure has finally ordered a probe into this unfair ordeal of parole extension to Dutt.

And this is only but fair to satisfy the consciousness of the masses.

Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal could have been in the net of security agencies way back in 2009 but he successfully managed to free himself from Kolkata Police after being arrested in a theft case by concealing his identity, NIA has said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), in its second charge sheet filed against Bhatkal and his aides, said Bhatkal had visited Kolkata in 2009 along with suspected IM operative Qateel Siddiqui, who had died inside Pune’s Yerawada central jail in June 2012, to build his network there.

The probe agency said Kolkata Police had arrested him in connection with a petty theft case but Bhatkal concealed his identity and freed himself from the clutches of law.

“Accused Md Ahmed Siddibapa (Yasin) also visited Kolkata in 2009 along with one Qateel Siddiqui and stayed at the residence of one Humayun for the furtherance of the activities of the IM. During his stay at Kolkata, he tried to build his network there and was arrested on suspicion in a case of theft by the Kolkata Police,” the NIA has said.

“During arrest, he revealed his assumed identity as Md. Arshad which was found to be non-existent, thus proving that the accused has been assuming new identities to conceal his actual identity,” it said.

NIA also alleged that Bhatkal had made “extensive efforts” for recruitment of new cadres for IM in Bhatkal in Karnataka and Darbhanga in Bihar.

It also said that Bhatkal established a safe hideout in Shaheen Bagh after the Batla House encounter on September 19, 2008 and also had his hideouts in Darbhanga, Samastipur and Madhubani in Bihar.

Goa jail authorities filed a formal police complaint against Tehelka founder-editor Tarun Tejpal and six others after mobile phones were found allegedly in their possession inside the Sada Sub jail.

During a surprise inspection in the jail yesterday, the authorities had found Tejpal possessing a mobile phone with a SIM card in it, Additional Inspector General of Police Gopal Parsekar told reporters here today.

The formal police complaint has been registered against Tejpal, he said.

Tejpal (50), charged with raping his junior woman colleague during an event here last year, is currently lodged in cell no. 14 of the high security Sada Sub jail, located about 40 kms from Panaji.

The surprise raid was conducted by sub-divisional magistrate Gaurish Shankhwalkar yesterday wherein seven mobile phones loaded with SIM cards were found in the sub jail.

While Parsekar refused to state exactly where the mobile was allegedly hidden by Tejpal, sources said it was found under his bedding.

A senior police official said a legal opinion would be sought on which sections of Indian Penal Code could be pressed against Tejpal.

The jail authorities, however, said although the preliminary inquiry indicts Tejpal of violating the rules, a detailed inquiry would be conducted to ascertain as to who helped him to sneak in the cell phone inside the jail.

Parsekar said two-layer frisking is in place in the jail, one by personnel of India Reserve Batallion and another by jail guards.

“We don’t know how the mobiles were transported in, whether it’s done by prisoners, IRB or jail guards. Only a detailed inquiry would reveal the truth,” he said.

Goa police had last week filed a charge sheet against Tejpal.

He had been charged under sections 354, 354-A (sexual harassment), 341 and 342 (wrongful restrain), 376 (rape), 376(2)(f) and 376 (2)(k) (takes advantage of his official position and commits rape on a woman in his custody).