Hearing a public interest litigation petition challenging double or multiple allotment of flats from the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s discretionary housing quota to a single person or family, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the government to file an affidavit by December 21, explaining the action taken against such beneficiaries.
A Division Bench of Justices Abhay Oka and S.C. Gupte observed that the government had not made ‘substantial compliance’ with the court’s April 2012 order. It directed Additional Public Prosecutor Aruna Kamat to mention in the affidavit whether an inquiry was made before two flats were allotted to a single person or family.
The petition filed by the former journalist, Ketan Tirodkar, said that in several cases, a second allotment was made to the same allottees or their spouses or family members. Politicians and journalists were the main beneficiaries of this practice, which ignored the needy and the common man.
Along with his petition, he submitted a list of such beneficiaries, including the close relatives of three ministers and a journalist.
Ms. Kamat informed the court that in most of the cases, the second allotment had been cancelled.
The next hearing is scheduled for December 23.
