In a damaging disclosure made before the Bombay High Court, the Income Tax (IT) Department has said that Maharashtra’s former chief secretary Ajoy Mehta — in his capacity as the Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — had favoured Pune-based scam-tainted businessman Aviash Bhosale for the grant of development rights of an existing 30 feet wide internal road.
In an affidavit filed in a HC bench headed by chief justice Dipankar Datta in a public interest litigation moved by RTI activist and lawyer Pravin Wategaonkar, Shailesh Jain, Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Benami Transactions, Unit-I, has among other things said that Mehta in his capacity as the BMC Commissioner, had “backed” Bhosale’s proposal for the grant of development rights of an existing 30 feet wide internal road that connects Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) to Mahakali Caves.
Jain told the high court that Mehta had backed Bhosale’s proposal overruling the contention by the BMC chief engineer who argued that there was no provision to grant TDR on the existing amenity or road in the development plant.
Mehta, who is the current chairman of the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) bought the flat no 5-B in Samata Co-operative Housing Society Ltd at Nariman Point in south Mumbai. Samata Co-operative Housing society has been constructed on a government originally meant for serving/retired Judges.