The bench of Justices Abhay Oka and V L Achilya, Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to extend the tenure of the panel appointed to probe the alleged irregularities in allotment of flats under the Chief Minister’s discretionary housing quota since 1982 till November 30, which was to end on October 15.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by an activist Ketan tirodkar wherein allegations of multiple allotments of flats were pressed. The PIL, posted for hearing on November 19, alleged that many people got more than one flat under the CM’s quota by making false declarations. It also said most beneficiaries are politicians or those who are close to politicians.The secretary of the Justice J A Patil Committee had placed a letter before the court seeking more time on the ground that the work involved was of a great magnitude.

The bench had asked the beneficiaries of the allotment to return the flats or pay the price of the flat in cases where the flats have been sold off.
The court had ordered that the government must ensure that those who have got multiple flats hand over the possession back to the authorities.

The HC has asked the Patil committee to scrutinise all the applications for flats since 1982, and look for the cases where a single person has got more than one flat.The allotment under the CM’s quota has now been stopped following the court’s order. Under the scheme, the flats were supposed to be given to freedom fighters, art personalities and sports persons.