The Brave Pedestrian

Mumbai, 14 th July, 2016: I would not have believed it if I had'nt seen it with my own eyes. For many months, my client Tukaram Sutar had been insisting that the Jogeshwari Municipal Corporator Ujwala Modak was giving political support to the non-performing redevelopment builder and former managing committee members of his cooperative housing society... but I was skeptical. I asked him, "Where is the evidence? Has this corporator ever spoken or written letters to us, or interfered in our society's matters? No!" However, three days ago, when I found myself confronting Ujwala Modak at the society's hearing at the office of the Deputy Registrar of Cooperation (K-East Ward), Wadala, I realized that Mr Sutar was right. At the hearing, Ujwala Modak's conversation with Cooperation Department officials indicated that she had been meeting and phoning them for favourable orders.  After our heated argument, corporator Modak helped the society's chairman Mr...

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...

The main center of corruption in any Redevelopment scam is the managing committee of the housing society. Often managing committee members betray the society members’ trust by unduly favoring a particular builder. They barter  away the society’s bargaining points for money and favours. On 3rd January 2009, Govt of Maharashtra’s Co-operation Department issued strict guidelines for redevelopment. This is contained in Circular No. CHS 2007/CR554/14-C. It contains a Directive under Section 79(A) of Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act 1960 for Housing Societies in Maharashtra regarding procedures and safeguards to be followed by societies seeking redevelopment. Corrupt office bearers who collude with builders usually violate these guidelines. •    REDEVELOPMENT CIRCULAR IN ENGLISH:  http://tinyurl.com/English-Redevelopment-GR •    REDEVELOPMENT CIRCULAR IN MARATHI:  http://tinyurl.com/Marathi-Redevelopment-GR You can try and stop...