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Court questions grant of plot to Joshi's son-in-law

A division bench of the Bombay high court Monday observed that the decision to de-reserve a plot in Pune, where former Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi's son-in-law Girish Vyas has constructed a multi-storeyed building, should have been taken by the state cabinet with consent from the finance department.

Justices B N Srikrishana and Shafi Parkar were hearing writ petitions filed by Nitin Jagtap, corporator of the Pune Municipal Corporation, and Vijay Krishna Kumar, a Pune-based journalist. They allege that a piece of land on Prabhat road, which was reserved for a primary school, was allotted to Vyas.

The petition contended that rules have been flouted in de-reserving the plot. Advocate Vinod Bopde who appeared for the petitioner said that while shifting the reservation from a prime place like Prabhat road to another area, the Maharashtra Town Planing Act and section 13 (5) of the Development rules were flouted. As per the law if any de-reservation has to be done, objection should be invited from the public and the proposal should be approved by the local civic body -- but in this case, Vyas directly approached the state's revenue department, he argued.

The matter had earlier came up before a division bench comprising former chief justice M B Shah and Justice S Radhakrishnan, who had granted a stay.

The hearing will continue tomorrow.

UNI

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