Mumbai Cricket Association's BKC plot being commercially used, is actually meant for educational purpose

Mumbai: MCA was allotted 13 acres of prime land in the costliest locality of Mumbai i.e BKC for educational purpose.That has been been put to commercial use by the MCA has now come under cognizance of the MMRDA,which has now issued a notice to MCA.This information has been provided to RTI Activist Anil Galgali. Galgali has now alleged that this is a scam worth 1000 crore and has demanded in a letter addressed to CM Devendra Fadnavis that the land allotted should be taken back and strong action be initiated against the MCA and M/s Shirke. Galgali further cited the example of the recent order of Mumbai High Court directing CIDCO to take back the plot of Inorbit mall, which was allotted out of turn without calling for tenders for allotment. Hence the case of MCA being similar to the CIDCO case the people would like to see what steps would the BJP govt take in this case.

RTI Activist Anil Galgali had filed an RTI query with the MMRDA seeking information about the plot allotted to the Mumbai Cricket Association in the Bandra Kurla Complex. The MMRDA replied that MCA was allotted plot ad-measuring 52,157 sq mtrs on 05/03/2004 ,on a lease for 80 years for which MCA was charged a meagre Rs 2,65,98,200. The MMRDA also gave a FSI of 1.5 on allowing 15% construction on 10% of the plot, 23 % of the plot was meant for construction of Swimming pool, Tennis Courts, Cricket Nets and similar sporting activities. The rest 67% of the land was meant to be kept open for regulated public use. Similarly students from all over Maharashtra be admitted to the Indoor Cricket Academy. The MCA flouted the most important terms and condition of non commercial utilization of the plot by entering into a commercial agreement with M/s Shirke Infrastructure. MMRDA taking cognizance of this violation of its terms of allotment, citing the commercial agreement with M/s Shirke Infrastructure has issued a notice on 23/02/2014 to MCA to take rectification steps within 3 months or the lease agreement will be terminated.

While allotting this land it seems the MMRDA flouted its own land allotment policy, Govt policy and circumvented the Govts own decision dt 15/05/2000 regarding allotting land reserved for recreational purposes to private agencies and organisations. It seems the MMRDA has gifted this land to the MCA said Galgali. It is also coming to light that, as per the MMRDA norms, the land could not have been considered for allotment to MCA. The audit report also mentions that MMRDA lost Rs 13.95 crores in the allotment which was done without calling for tenders as per norms.

MMRDA woke up very late on the issue of violation, but the Income Tax dept had acted very promptly and cancelled the IT exemptions given to MCA due to this commercial violation. The MCA approached the Supreme Court on the issue of cancellation of IT exemptions but was not successful and had to pay Tax on the profit earned from the commercial activity. On the other hand, the then 'Mr Clean' CM, who also heads the MMRDA as Chairman instead of taking action of taking back the plot after receiving no response on its notice, started correspondence with M/s Kanga & Co after 6 months of issuing notice in the name of taking legal advise, though it is important to mention here that the Govt has its own legal dept, but instead of seeking the advise from its own dept has tried to avoid taking action by delaying and diverting in the name of seeking advise from an outside agency, claimed Galgali. Galgali also raised concerns seeking to know that since when Cricket became Educational subject and how? He said this also needs to be enquired.

RTI  Activist Anil Galgali has demanded from CM Devendra Fadnavis, CS Swadheen Kshatriya & MMRDA Chairman UPS Madan that the land should be immediately taken back and Rs 1000 crore be recovered from MCA, also initiate strict action against the MCA & M/s Shirke Infrastructure.