29 Mhada lottery applicants have been winning repeatedly: Report

A major housing scam of the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority’s (Mhada) 2011 lottery has brought other scams tumbling out of the closet. The enquiry committee, which probed into the 425 winners of 2011 lottery, has found out that 29 applicants have won the lottery more than once since 2006.

Nearly 425 winners of the Mhada housing lottery draw in May 2011 had submitted fake addresses, bank account numbers, and even cellphone numbers. Mhada officials had then instituted an enquiry and sent letters to the winners to appear for a hearing and make their submission. However, only 100 winners made their submission. Most admitted to having filled the forms through brokers. Names of 17 brokers have come before the committee.

Vice-president and chief executive officer Satish Gavai said that the board has been instructed to furnish details of the 29. “If it is found that they have taken possession of more than one Mhada tenement, their flats will be confiscated and stern action will be taken against them,” he said. He added that stern action will also be taken against any Mhada officer found guilty by the committee.

As per a provision in the Mhada Act, the board is supposed to scrutinise the documents it receives before including them in the lottery. However, as of now, the board does not invite any enclosures from applicants as the form is filled online, and hence, the procedure for scrutiny is dropped. This works to certain applicants’ advantage, as they fill forms repeatedly even if they have already won a Mhada flat.
The committee report states, “

This list (of repeat winners) is incomplete as only one year’s data has been checked. (If officials scrutinise previous lottery winners’ lists) the number of such cases will be higher.”

A senior Mhada official said that the authority has already instructed its officers to go through previous records to check if the 29 named by the report feature as winners in earlier lists as well.

The report also questions that as per an anonymous complaint against MASTEK, the company which prepared the lottery software, there were some faults in the software and the company is to be blamed equally for this fiasco. If this is the case, why hasn’t a chief officer sought clarification from the company? the report asks.

A chief officer may be asked to identify those who won flats in previous lotteries and still applied in the 2011 lottery and won. Allotment of such candidates needs to be cancelled, the report concludes.

Gavai, however, said there is no need to make changes in the lottery software “We have made pan card compulsory for the applicant. Also, the winners will get their provisional offer letters through RPDA on the address mentioned in the application form.”

Repeat winners
Sangeeta Adablle – 2006, 2009
Latabai Anerao – 2008, 2009
Dilip Annaareddy – 2008, 2011
Ramchandra Bobhate- 2009, 2011
Keshav Chalke – 2009, 2010
Pallavi Chavan – 2006, 2010
Shrikant Chavan – 2009, 2011
Vithal Dehdray – 2005, 2006
John Farnandes – 2009, 2011
Rahul Garasia – 2008, 2009
Sanjay Gawande- 2008, 2011
Yogeshwar Gokhale- 2005, 2006
Anil Gosavi – 2006, 2010
Vijay Goswami – 2010, 2011
Vyanketesh Guni – 2005, 2011
Suresh Gupta – 2009, 2010
Vasant Gurav – 2006, 2011
Deepak kambale – 2008, 2009, 2010
Imtaj Munir Khan – 2008, 2009
Smita Kinkale – 2005, 2009
Sanjay Kokane-2005, 2009
Archana Kondra – 2006, 2009
Kirti Nagda – 2005, 2006
Vijay Nirbhuvane – 2005, 2009
Rajendra Palande- 2006, 2009
Swati Patil – 2009, 2010
Rajesh Rangari – 2005, 2006
Seema Tadadikar – 2006, 2010
Alka Vispute – 2005, 2006