Report PACs a punch: DB’s Goenka flouted rules

The public accounts committee (PAC) of the Maharashtra assembly has slammed the state revenue and urban development departments for rampant evasion of revenue (almost Rs133 crore) related to government lands in Mumbai, Thane, Pune and adjoining cities.

Vinod Goenka, co-founder of DB Realty currently in jail in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam, is one of the beneficiaries. Girish Bapat, chairman of the committee, said in the report, tabled in the state assembly on Monday, that Konwood Agency, owned by Pramod and Vinod Goenka, flouted government rules while developing 57 acres of land in Kandivli meant for housing the poor.

The Maharashtra Housing Area Development Corporation (Mhada) acquired the land in the 1980s and gave it to Konwood Agency for building flats (ranging from 400 to 800 sq ft). Though the agency built the flats, it refused to hand over 10% of the flats built to the government under the Urban Land Ceiling Act, which was then in force.

The urban development department did not seek legal advice despite the cabinet sub-committee suggesting so in 1996, Bapat said. “Flats for the poor were supposed to come up on the land,” he said. “But the motive has not been served and the urban department could not give any valid explanation. Also, the revenue officers are not serious.”

The committee submitted 655 recommendations in nine years, but the government sent us back reports on action taken only in 302 cases, Bapat said.