Panvel builder arrested for cheating buyers

A panvel builder, Narendra Mehta (alias Raj Mehta) and his son, Raunak Mehta 23 yrs old, have been arrested and remanded in police custody till february 27.Narendra Mehta is accused of cheating 200 investors of 5 crores by promising them plots in Panvel. The builder allegedly took buyers to the site and told them that he was the owner of the plot. It turned out that the farmer had only received 60 lakhs and that the plot was still under his ownership.
Despite recent scams, buyers continue to trust builders blindly and lose their hard earned  money in the process.

2200 builders refuse to pay VAT

Many builders have ignored the Govt deadline to register and pay VAT before the October 31,2012 deadline despite Supreme Court rap.About 5257 builders registered themselves to pay VAT for the sales between June 20,2006 to March 31,2010 with the Sales Tax Dept.However,approx 2200 builders from Pune have not paid VAT.Most have showed nil returns.Most builders ask buyers to pay up for their VAT liabilities but social activists say that VAT payment is the responsibility of the person registered with the sales tax dept.A public interest litigation has been filed to prevent builders from extorting VAT from buyers.It will come up for admission on March 8.Builders say that they are entitled to collect VAT from buyers as the sales tax dept has supported their stand of issuing a debit note to flat buyers for the same.

This will be the second time that the dept will raid builders to recover VAT.Many thought that govt will reduce their tax liability hence they did not pay it,though they may have collected it from flat buyers.

It is amazing,that after months of confusion and court battles the govt is yet to specify whether flat buyers are liable for VAT or not.Just one more proof of how the flat buyer is left to fend for himself while builders display their normal high handedness.

Navi Mumbai real estate market collapses

Dire economic situation and rising inflation has taken a heavy toll on the Navi Mumbai real estate market in the past 2 months.The proof of this collapse has come from the registration figures in the registration dept and the amount of new proposals being subimtted in the NMMC and CIDCO town planning dept.Developers are struggling for cash and coming up with creative schemes like 80:20 scheme wherein the buyer pays only the 20% booking amount and the rest only after the project is completed,hence the buyers avoid paying the pre-emi interest to the bank.Most of the builders only make inquiries and only submit proposals but do not make further payments to obtain approvals.Developers have no money to pay the fungible FSI fee.Fungible FSI is the additional money the developer has to pay for enclosed balconies,flower bed area etc.Earlier the builders used to get these areas free but after manipulation was detected by most of them,the BMC smartened up and started charging money for the same.
This slowdown is the most significant in the past 2 years.One only needs to visit the registration dept in Belapur to witness the complete collapse of the market.
The effect of this collapse is primarily in the newly developing areas like Ulwe,Kamothe,Khandeshwar,Panvel,Dronagiri,Kharghar etc.Premium locations in well developed areas like NRI complex,Sector 19 Nerul,etc are relatively less affected due to the scarcity of good flats in good societies in these localities.

Read more here

Petitioner against illegal buildings shot dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WGIACEMing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kwG4N3xCvE

Navi Mumbai police have arrested an ex-cop in connection with the murder of builder Sunil Kumar Lahoria. The ex-police officer, Samuel Amolik, had been dismissed from service for his alleged links with the underworld. He has been charged with murder and conspiracy and remanded to police custody till February 22..
Police say that scrutiny of Mr Kumar\’s mobile call data record revealed that he had received several calls from those who attacked Mr Lahoria before the murder.
Mr Lahoria was shot dead in front of his office on Saturday morning in the satellite town of Navi Mumbai. The entire murder was caught on the CCTV camera installed at the entrance of the office.
At around 8 am, as soon as Mr Lahoria, owner of SK Brothers, stepped out of his white BMW in front of his office in Vashi, a man in a security guard\’s uniform shot him six times from a point-blank range. Another man then attacked Mr Lahoria with a chopper when he fell on the ground. As they were trying to escape, one of them was caught by locals.
Mr Lahoria, 52, was rushed to the Fortis Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Latest Update (21st Feb 2013)

Two accused in the murder of Mr.Sunil Kumar Lahoria, namely, Mr.Anurag Garg (Dimensions architect) and Mr.Suresh Bijlani are absconding and the police is on the lookout for them. They had filed for anticipatory bail in the Thane court but it was rejected. It has come to light that the threat calls made to the relatives of Sunil Kumar were indeed made from Suresh Bijlani\’s number. Six other builders were also interrogated and their passports confiscated. Bijlani did not submit his passport saying that it was in the renewal process.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/aug/070811-Navi-Mumbai-Chief-Minister-Prithviraj-Chavan-illegal-construction.htm

Navi Mumbai airport decision today

The State Board for Wildlife (Maharashtra) will decide the fate of the Navi Mumbai airport today, 24 Jan 2013.As stated in an earlier article, the airport land falls within 10 kms of the protected Karnala Bird sanctuary.

In early March 2012,Debi Goenka, of the Environment Action Trust, filed a complaint with the Chief conservator of Forests (Thane region) and he complained about it to Union environment secretary Tishya Chatterjee, asking the ministry to revoke the green clearance.

Goenka alleged that CIDCO officials had hidden the fact that:-

1. The Land earmarked for the airport contained 321 acres of reserved forest area.(Reserved forest land cannot be destroyed to develop the land in any way).
2. The Airport boundary wall is less than 10 kilometers from the Karnala bird sanctuary.(According to the Environment protection act,an airport cannot come up less than 10 kilometers from a wildlife sanctuary).

This was verified personally by Debi Goenka along with CIDCO officials. Later,the Chief conservator of forests conducted his own survey and found the allegations true. The distance was found to be less than 10 kms and the land revenue records showed that 321 acres were indeed Reserved forest Land.
Subsequently, the Chief conservator of forests, Mr.Pol, withdrew the permission saying “We have conveyed our objections to the principal secretary and the Navi Mumbai authority (CIDCO) will have to seek fresh permission from both the state wildlife advisory board and the central wildlife advisory board,” said Pol.

False Claims by CIDCO
Cidco claims that only 70 hectares of land falls under the eco sensitive zone (10 kms radius of Karnala bird sanctuary) and that Supreme court in its 2000 order had directed all state govts to mark eco sensitive zones coming under its jurisdiction and that State board of Wildlife had not yet earmarked the eco sensitive zone around Karnala bird sanctuary. However, interestingly, CIDCO officials cleverly avoid mentioning that the airport contains 321 acres of Reserved Forest area. Reserved forest areas cannot be developed under any circumstances. CIDCO had deliberately hidden this fact during the planning stages and later on.
The state board of wildlife will submit a report to the National board for Wildlife which will take a call on whether to give CIDCO the clearance or not.
The decision will be eagerly awaited.
Apart from these major hurdles, the proposed airport is also facing a land acquisition problem. It requires 2,042 hectares of land from which 1,405 hectares is already with CIDCO, but 485 hectares of land is privately-owned.
These private parties are demanding much larger compensation packages, thereby forcing infrastructure companies, including Larsen & Toubro, to question the viability of the entire project. Environmentalists are also putting pressure on the MoEF highlighting the ecological havoc the project will cause since it involves the diversion of two rivers, the Gadhi and Ulwe and the decimating of 400 acres of mangrove forests.
In the light of these ‘new’ developments, the actual construction work is unlikely to start before 2014,provided the green signal comes from the Ministry of Environment and forests as early as possible.
The tendering process is yet to begin and once the winning bidder bags the project, it will take another six to eight months for the feasibility studies. CIDCO, which was to commence the levelling and filling of the land before construction, now has to wait for these clearances from the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF)
In light of these developments, it is anybody’s guess when or if the airport will ever come up here.
In the meanwhile, investors and flat purchasers wait with baited breath for the final decision of the ministry.

More information…..

http://business-standard.com/india/news/navi-mumbai-airport-bombay-hc-rejects-cidcos-plea-for-fca-exemption/499610/

Thane district does not have an anti encroachment demolition squad

While all civic bodies like BMC and NMMC have their own strong anti encroachment set up to evict encroachers and demolish illegal buildings, the Thane collectors office lacks one. This is thanks to the State Govt. In such a situation almost all the land in the district including the local self govt jurisdictions has been encroached upon. The Collector has several hundred acres of land in areas of Navi Mumbai like Turbhe etc. Hence it is for all to see the state of affairs in Turbhe, which is the den of all sorts of illegal activity in Navi Mumbai. Other than huge slums, one can find all sorts of illegal activities like liquor making, prostitution etc in Turbhe. Personnel of the PWD perform the anti encroachment activities in the district. Some of them do not even know how to carry out demolition. Sometimes its the Nayab Tehsildars who handle the demolition work in absence of Tehsildars leading to little or no demolition. Thane district has 15 talukas,7 municipal corporations and 11 municipal councils.

Homi Patrawala of Snowgold charged for forgery and cheating

Owner of Snowgold constructions faced a setback as the high court dismissed his plea to quash the FIR against him in a forgery and cheating case. Patrawala can approach the supreme court and has stayed the the order for 8 weeks.
Patrawala approached court after another builder,Ashok Mohnanai of Ekta builders,filed an FIR against him for cheating and forgery.
As per Ekta builders,Patrawala took money as brokerage for a deal between Mohnanai and 70 year old Sushila Jadhav,who owns a bungalow on 13th Road,Khar West.Mohnanai also purchased an adjacent plot owned by Patrawala.Mohnanai claims that the money he gave for Sushila Jadhav never reached her and that Patrawala diverted the entire amount to his companies.He also donated money to trusts of politicians.
Patrawala had approached Mohnani with the offer of the bungalow in June 2010.By March 2011,he had completed all formalities and paid all the money through cheques and a cheque of Rs 6 crore for Jadhav.When Jadhav did not vacate the plot even after making all payments,Mohnani visited Jadhav only to find out that Patrawala had not forwarded the money to jadhav and had instead usurped all the money himself.Patrawala had also made a slum dweller from kanjur marg open an account in the name of Sushila Jadhav into which he deposited the cheque issued by Mohnani for Sushila Jadhav.
Mohnani then approached the economic offences wing.

Ambani plans township in Ulwe,Dronagiri

Mukesh Ambani

Next four months will see the launch of the biggest residential township with state of the art facilities by Reliance. The state govt has recently altered its Industrial policy by allowing land which was acquired for building SEZ\’s (special economic zones) to be used for building residential buildings.40% of the land acquired for SEZ\’s can be used for residential buildings. Ambani owns 4300 acres in Ulwe and Dronagiri. This is prime residential land right next to the sea. Besides residential buildings, malls and schools too will be started. They plan to develop a walk-to-work culture. With the proposed Ulwe-Sewri link getting the funds the distance between Ulwe and Sewri will be reduced to a mere 10 mins drive via an expressway. This along with the Metro link and airport in the vicinity will make Ulwe the most preferred destination. What is sure to raise questions is the fact that this land was acquired for cheap by the govt in the garb of making SEZ\’s and then allotted cheap to Reliance. Many allege that it was never Reliance\’s intention to make SEZ\’s and that they have altered the Industrial policy of the govt by using money power. This extra 4300 acres in Ulwe is sure to cause a tremor in the Navi Mumbai real estate market. How exactly Reliance decides to price the houses here is the million dollar question as the local developers wait with baited breath.

Important Update.8 aug 2013

Ambani all set to use NaMu SEZ land for Special Education Zone. To have 400-acre campus in collaboration with Cambridge, Oxford & Harvard universities

Industrialist Mukesh Ambani has decided to develop the campus on a plot measuring over 400 acres at Ulwe, according to sources at Reliance Industries. The education hub will have a tie-up with world-renowned universities like Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard.

Ambani and his close aide, Anand Jain, jointly own this land which had been acquired for a special economic zone. This plan has now been completely scrapped. According to the state’s revised industrial policy, the land has been ‘unlocked’. This means it can now be put to any other use.

“The state government recently revised its industrial policy. As per this policy, we are working on our blueprint, which is likely to be released soon,” the source added.

Now, Mukesh Ambani’s wife, Nita, is closely monitoring the development of the education hub, said sources.

Nita, who has a keen interest in the domain of education, wants this proposed education hub to be a prominent centre among world universities, said the source who spoke strictly on the condition that newspaper not name him.

This proposal, said the source, lends strong credence to what Ambani had stated during the annual general meeting in 2011. Ambani had then expressed his desire to set up a “world-class, multi-disciplinary university” in Maharashtra.

The source, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said that the education hub will offer comprehensive, all-round education – from kindergarten to research. “The education will be innovative and students will have wide scope to conduct research on anything that interests them. The campus will have state-of-the-art facilities,” said the source, adding that confabulations are on with foreign universities.

This proposed education hub, said another source, will help nurture talent. “Presently, existing universities are not able to meet industry demand by providing required engineering talent. Once our centre comes up, the problem will be sorted out. We can provide a pool of talent to our industry and other companies,” said the other source.

It is understood that the education hub will be autonomous. “We will bring western and eastern culture and talent together. We will offer courses in science, arts and professional streams,” said the other source who works in a senior capacity at Reliance.

Earlier, Ambani had decided to construct a skyscraper on this plot but this plan was scrapped. “This land comes under the ‘flying zone’ of the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport. Aviation rules restrict the height of buildings in the zone… So, we had to call off the plan and decided to develop the international education hub,” said the source.

A spokesperson of Reliance Industries Limited told dna that plans are still in the nascent stage. “We are still working out the modalities and understanding the nitty-gritty of the revised government policy. However, so far nothing has been fixed yet. The plan could be revised at any moment,” said the spokesperson.

Related articles

• Anil Ambani\’s Reliance group, China\’s Wanda to form township joint venture (alllatestnews.wordpress.com)
• Govt approves de-notification of 40% of RIL\’s Gujarat SEZ (thehindu.com)
• Sue me, not TV news channels, Kejriwal writes to Mukesh Ambani (thehindu.com)

High court turns complaint against builders into PIL

A letter written by activist Vikrant Karnik (5 page letter) based on a television sting operation against malpractices of builders/developers has been turned into a PIL (public interest litigation) by the Mumbai High Court. The letter cites \’normal\’ builder practices of charging on the basis of :Super built up area instead of Carpet area which can sometimes be twice the carpet area. He also cites the normal practice of charging for the car parking area (a practice banned by the supreme court),charging for the society formation (it is the builders responsibility to form the society and convey the land in favor of the society. He cannot charge for it),charging cash for 30% of the cost of the flat etc. These practices are as old as the trade itself. Even though MCHI president Paras Gundecha may deny it, the whole world knows that it takes place. What the govt has done up till now about the whole thing is a mystery.

CIDCO land official murdered

Atul Mhatre

The body of Atul Mhatre, aged 35 years, was found in a village near Panvel on Sunday. Mhatre was murdered with a knife or sharp weapon. Mhatre was employed in the rehabilitation and property dept of CIDCO\’s belapur office. He was last seen at Belapur on Friday evening while returning home to Uran. His car was later found abandoned on Uran-Panvel road.
It may help to know that Mhatre was employed with CIDCO for the past 15 years and was recently transferred to the property dept where he was assigned to rehabilitate villagers in Kamothe under the 12.5% gaothan scheme. His body had 42 injuries from a sharp weapon and he was tortured before his killing. Atul used to work as a clerk in the land section of CIDCO.
According to his family, Atul was recently involved in the selling of a plot of land owned by his distant relative to a builder in Navi Mumbai. The price of the land was initially fixed at 25 lakhs but Atul had asked the builder to pay over Rs.1 crore based on the current market rate of the land.
Update:
Four people including a real estate agent by the name of Prem patil have been arrested for th e murder of Atul Mhatre. Patil said that he had paid Atul 3 lakh rupees to allot a plot of land to his client under the 12.5% Gaothan scheme.
(Readers should know that 12.5% gaothan scheme is a scheme whereby the original inhabitants of Navi Mumbai are allotted land in return for the  farmland they surrendered to the govt. Recent past has seen a lot of scams wherein CIDCO officials in collusion with villagers, conspire with the help of fake documents to get land allotted in their name.)
When Atul Mhatre asked for 20 lakhs, Patil plotted the murder of Mhatre along with his friends-Nitin Bhoir (23), Andy Cruz (27) and Kunal Salunke (25).Patil allegedly paid Cruz 1 lakh rupees as a supari.
This along with previous incidents of corruption in the lands section of CIDCO shows that officials working in the dept are more of agents and less of govt employees. Some of them are rumored to have earned 100\’s of crores by mediating in land deals between builders and gaonwalas. One only has to visit the CIDCO office in Belapur to see the rampant goondagiri of agents and officials in the office. How many more cases like this the govt needs to wake up is anybody\’s guess.

Accused caught by the Police

Largest land owners of Mumbai

Throughout human history, land has always been synonymous with power. Mongol empire, considered the greatest empire in human history, covered an area of 24,000,000 km² (16% of earth’s total land area) at its greatest extent. Ones with bigger territories are the biggest kings.

If you’ve ever wondered who the kings of Mumbai are, read on !

Colonial Era kings

The roots of our story date back to the British Era where land was gifted as a reward for ‘loyalty’ to attract people. Parsis, who were mainly the traders and middlemen at that time, had acquired large profits from this generosity and through canny investments in real estate market they accumulated large amounts of assets which were passed on through generations till today. Presently Mumbai is the most populous city in India and the fourth most populous in the World with an average density of 20,694/km². For Mumbaikars, the quest for a roof on top of their heads is never ending. But there are a few fortunate families with considerably large chunks of this golden cake in their pockets acquired hereditarily. Research shows that most of these gold-plated chunks are not quite yielding under the pressure of land mafias and encroachment. Though some trusts have gained profits from owned lands, many families have lost their valuable land under the Coastal Regulation Zone.

Privately owned land in Mumbai

Of 99,319 acres of Mumbai almost 7000 acres are owned by Mumbai’s top 10 private families/trusts, as estimated by Economic Times. Collectively, 21 largest private bodies of Mumbai own about 10% of the total city.

• Godrej Industries Pvt. Ltd. is the largest private single landholder in Mumbai today with holdings of nearly 2,000 acres of mangroves at Vikhroli on the east of the Eastern Express Highway. It established itself in real estate as Godrej Properties Ltd. in 1990 and has undertaken many constructions in more than 12 cities in India. In Mumbai, they have taken up many successful projects including Godrej Platinum at Vikhroli East close to their mangroves. However, Godrej is fighting to claim the title of the land in court since mid-70’s. Even if Godrej wins the case, a considerable part of it, which is along the Thane creek, falls under the CRZ and cannot be developed upon.Godrej Industries Pvt. Ltd. – Largest private single landholder in Mumbai
• Next is FE Dinshaw estate. Framroze Edulji Dinshaw was the son of a Karachi landowner and most prominent businessmen of his times. He took over his father’s assets in Mumbai and expanded for his next generations. By 2002, FE Dinshaw estate was the largest privately owned land in Mumbai with 2,200 acres of western suburbs between Malad and Borivali. The FE Dinshaw Charities trust, founded after he died in 1936, holds another 278 acres mainly in Malad. However, a lot of its land has fallen prey to encroachment and land mafias.
• Another classic example of British generosity is the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Properties Limited, which is the 5th largest landholder in Mumbai. Sir Byramjee Jeejeebhoy, a 19th century philanthropist, was gifted by East India Company a total of 12,000 acres of land between Bandra and Borivali in 1830. Over the past 40 years huge tracts of his land are sold off to builders or gave up to the government for infrastructure development.
• Others include A.H.Wadia trust and builders like the Ajmeras, the Hiranandanis and the Rahejas.

JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust)

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust is the unanimous topper of the public land holding lists with 2,000 acres. All the land and water area between Colaba and Navi Mumbai, which is nearly one-eighth of Mumbai, falls under JNPT. Keeping in view the acute shortage of land, the port trust has developed efficient land use schemes and have encouraged development of city’s infrastructure on a large scale. It has given up half of the land to MMRDA for development of Wadala Truck Terminus, aimed at decongesting South Bombay, and Mahul Link Road. It has also approved to development of MTHL with concessional rents on another 25% of its area. It also agreed to consider the elevation of Eastern Island Highway through its estate. JNPT now wishes to reclaim land between Colaba and Navi Mumbai to improve the infrastructure projects which is receiving serious oppositions from political parties and environmentalists.

Even after the disintegration of mill culture in Mumbai, NTC mill still has 1,377 acres of land in Central Mumbai after selling most of its property to private builders. The central and state institutions of Life Insurance Corporation of India, Income Tax offices and banks hold most of slum areas of Dharavi. CBI has 5,000 sq metres at Bandra-Kurla complex.

Unused Spaces in Mumbai

Most of the above stated lands are unused vacant spaces for various reasons. While some may fall under CRZ others are reserved by the government for open spaces and recreational activities. Around 135 acres of salt pan lands are spread in and around Mumbai under Ministry of Urban Development of India. If approved, these salt pans could be used by state government and private sectors for more infrastructure development. According to senior officials of Railways, the central and western railways have huge unused lands around CST and Bandra which could fetch up to 30 acres of land for development. Collectively, over 66% of vacant lands are still present in the city under the State and Private sectors.

Kharghar residents hit again by Grampanchayat property tax demand

The property tax issue in Kharghar remains unresolved even today. Recently, some societies received a property tax demand from the Kharghar gram panchayat to the tune of a few lakhs. Some societies received bills for as much as Rs.90 lakhs!

Kharghar has long been plagued by a triple property tax problem. Currently, Kharghar residents are paying taxes to 3 different entities. Cidco, Tehsildar and gram panchayat.
Residents are paying service tax to Cidco, property tax to the gram panchayat and NA (Non Agriculture) tax to the revenue department in this case to the Panvel tehsildar.
Until recently there was no Police station in Kharghar and there were issues with the electric supply in some sectors. Although a police station has been sanctioned there, it is still in the construction stages with the contractor stopping work due to cost escalation.

Since Kharghar is a \’developing node\’, it does not have a municipal corporation. All tasks of the Municipal Corporation are carried out by CIDCO. Most of the services are outsourced by CIDCO eg.Garbage collection. As a result, Kharghar faces a litany of woes.

The residents of Kharghar have formed a federation of housing societies to fight this issue. The federation met the Raigad collector recently and plans to meet the Urban development minister soon. The High court has redirected the matter to the Zilla Parishad.
Recently, corporator Santosh Shetty also faced the brunt of the Gram Panchayat when the Panchayat turned up at Hotel Three star (Kharghar)which is owned by Shetty. Fortunately for him, they were unable to carry out the sealing due to \’lack of police protection\’ which is a flimsy excuse in reality. It was stage managed to make it seem like the Gram Panchayat was taking action against the big fish also.