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Showing posts with label Mumbai High court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mumbai High court. Show all posts

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Finally Pune Municipal Corporation uploads computerized data of its properties on Website

Finally Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has uploaded computerised data of its properties on website. We must congratulate PMC officers for that. It took almost 10 years to collect all the data. I had given first notice regarding this to PMC on 18 December 2003. However, task was difficult because all the interested 'parties' were against it and data was not maintained properly. I had to serve several notices regarding this to PMC. As all the parties had hand in gloves. PMC officials were also under pressure. Several times, they announced that data will be made public soon, but could not do so.Now though PMC has published the Data, it may not be perfect or accurate. So now, citizens have to communicate to PMC if there is any inaccuracy.

It all started with the a resolution passed by the General Body and Standing Committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), bestowing the right of a sports complex to the then Chairman of the Standing Committee,  for 30 years, without a calling for proper tenders, in the year 2001. This amounted to day light robbery of public property.

Angered by this brazen flouting of the law, I filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court, praying for the Court's intervention in the matter. While arguing in its favour, the PMC had stated that leasing out properties in this manner was "their consistent practice." The Honourable High Court came down heavily on the civic body and ordered it to take back the sports complex land with immediate effect. In addition, the Justices passed an order, directing the civic body to frame a proper Land Allocation Policy, to prevent the misuse or encroachment of public land in the future.

However, to get the civic body to act on the directions of the Honourable Court I had to fight tediously for six long years. The present Land Allotment Policy was framed in the year 2008, and since then the PMC has identified hundreds of such properties. Work is underway to take over those properties.

Another important facet of this story is that when I had asked under the Right to Information about the properties of the civic body leased out with out tender, it was revealed that a proper database was not maintained by the PMC. It was only after repeated notices that the PMC has started maintaining the same.

This brazen encroachment of public land goes on rampantly through out the nation and it is my earnest desire that the people in various parts of the country start the process of rectifying the same, using the Right to Information.