The Brave Pedestrian

How many people get justice through the judicial system in India? Probably much less than 1%. The judicial system is so formal and technical that a common person cannot access it without the costly help of lawyers. Less than 20% of people can afford lawyers. The 78% (according to the Arjun Sengupta Committee report) who live on less than Rs 20 per day obviously cannot afford lawyers. Even those who can access the judiciary through lawyers are usually frustrated by the long, laborious and expensive process which takes years or even decades to conclude, during which the litigant gets exhausted- physically and financially. Many of those who get their cases heard relatively quickly, are faced by uncaring, incompetent or corrupt judges. Such people lose their faith in justice itself. Image: http://bit.ly/1UOMlad Thus, those who finally manage to get justice from the system are probably far less than 1% of the population. The problem is that the judicial system in India was...

20th November, 2015, Mumbai: In most cooperative societies, minutes of general body meetings have some half-truths and omissions, but Mulund’s Shree Gurukrupa Nagar Cooperative Housing Society shows how minutes drafted with blatant lies can easily escape detection by the general body! The draft minutes of a crucial SGM held on 24th May 2014, authored by Shree Gurukrupa Nagar Secretary Sanjay Jadhav and Chairman Anil Shah, pass off their illegal decisions favouring builders as general body decisions. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED At the SGM held on 24th May 2014, the society members followed the recommendations of PMC Atul Mehta and signed a consent selecting Siresukan Realty and Bharat Jain alias Talesara as the builder for their redevelopment. Accordingly, the managing committee issued a Letter Of Intent (LOI) in favour of Bharat  Jain / Talesara, partner, Siresukan Realty. See the following documents: 1)     Notice of meeting says successful bidder will be sel...

To The Secretary Department of Justice, Govt of India New Delhi. collegium-suggestions@gov.in collegium-improvement@gov.in Suggestions to improve the working of Collegium System for appointing/elevating High Court and Supreme Court judges Dear Sir, Thank you for soliciting public opinion on this important issue. Appointment and elevation of judges of the higher judiciary is indeed the key to ensuring efficient and unbiased administration of justice for citizens of India. My humble suggestions are as below: Transparency 1)     Judges desirous of being selected, elevated or transferred should be required to formally apply to the collegium, clearly stating their own eligibility for such selection or elevation. 2)     Individual members of the collegium may propose or support eligible candidates for selection, elevation, transfer to a different High Court etc., but this should be done in writing to the chief of that collegium (Chi...

Figures manipulated to show Rs 110 cr. profits as Rs 12 cr. only 5th November, 2015, Mumbai: Builders usually underplay the monetary value of their redevelopment projects so that they can offer tiny amounts as bank guarantees, and so that they can evade income-tax and earn pots of money in cash. Mulund’s Shree Gurukrupa Nagar Cooperative Housing Society seems to be a live example. Project Management Consultant Atul Mehta wrote in his project report ( http://tinyurl.com/Atul-Mehta-PMC-report1 ) that the builders, Concrete Siresukan Realty LLP, would earn a profit of only Rs 12.14 crore after building over one lakh square feet! If the PMC’s report is to be believed, the three LLP partners -- namely Anuj Desai, Nilesh Dalal and Bharat Talesara -- would together earn the market price of 8 to 12 flats after slogging for a couple of years to get all the necessary building permissions, and then another 2-3 years constructing over 160 flats totaling one lakh square feet, and then han...

What Fresh Documents & Videos reveal about the Concrete Sire Sukan scam – part 1 Mumbai, October 1, 2015:  Mumbai is full of redevelopment activity that feels less like an honest business, and more like hostile takeover or creeping acquisition of flat-owners' assets. Cooperative housing society members who are at the receiving end of  such takeovers should read this article to understand how exactly this activity is carried out. Interesting documents and videos have been released by the motley bunch of builders and estate agents engaged in a hostile takeover of Shree Gurukrupa Nagar Cooperative Housing Society in Mulund West. In late 2013 or early 2014, Bharat Talesara alias Jain, an estate agent or “redevelopment consultant”, approached the office bearers of Shree Gurukrupa Nagar CHS and convinced them to let him handle their redevelopment. The office-bearers agreed to rig the society's tendering process and select him. To facilitate this rigging, Atul Mehta (B.E. Civi...