Cidco sends notice to builder for ‘illegal’ allotment of Vashi land

Navi Mumbai: The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) has sent a show-cause notice to M/s K Raheja Group, seeking to know why the 31,000 sq m land in Vashi allotted to them, should not be revoked on the ground that it was “arbitrary and illegal”.
The notice was served to the developer on November 11 by the Cidco manager (town services-I) Sanjay Paluskar and the former has 15 days to reply.
Currently, Inorbit Mall and Four Points Hotel stand on this prime land in sector 30A, Vashi. The notice was preceded by the public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Bombay high court in 2004. The PIL questioned the land allotment to the developer without any tender process.
Paluskar said, “In September, we had filed an affidavit in the high court stating that the land allocation to the developer was arbitrary and illegal. As the court asked Cidco to take further steps, we have sent the show-cause notice.”
Social activist Sandeep Thakur, who is an intervener in the ongoing PIL, said, “I welcome the Cidco action. We moved court to find out how such prime plots were given to a single builder , without any transparency.”
Cidco had earlier terminated the services of one of its general managers in 2011, for allegedly showing undue favours to the group.
The developer’s counsel had earlier told TOI that they will take legal action to counter Cidco’s affidavit. The builder has followed all rules and regulations in the land allotment issue, they claimed.
The Cidco affidavit also mentions the inquiry conducted by the state-appointed D K Sankaran Committee which found gross irregularities in the sale of these plots to K Raheja Group, leading to a loss of nearly Rs 50 crore for Cidco. The next high court hearing on this issue is due next week.