The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) was presented in the Legislative Council by minister of state for planning Rajendra Mulak, on Friday.
The CAG observed that there is rampant discrepancy in data on the leased land by the different governmental agencies like, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
Some of the major observations of the CAG were that in numerous cases, the MCGM had taken no action despite expiry of lease; no action was taken for renewal or eviction. The CAG report pointed out that according to the information furnished by the collectorates at Mumbai City, Mumbai suburban, and Pune revealed that out of 1,766 lease cases, 757 had expired between 1940 and 2008 and were pending renewal.
In Mumbai city, there were 74 residential, three commercial, nine industrial, and 11 other properties that were pending renewal and in Mumbai suburban, there were 12 residential, 10 commercial, 11 educational and social and four others. Of the 12 residential properties in Mumbai suburban, the CAG has also listed the property in the name of Gauri and Shah Rukh Khan.
The CAG also rapped the state government, MMRDA, MCGM for not taking adequate steps to recover lease dues from big corporate houses such as Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), Jet Airways (India) Ltd., Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd. (BCCL).
The CAG has observed that companies such as RIL and Jet Airways were allotted land by the MMRDA in the new business district of Bandra-Kurla Complex, but these companies failed to complete construction work in the prescribed time mentioned in the lease agreement. As per the lease agreement these companies signed with MMRDA, they were required to pay additional lease premium equivalent to 10 per cent of the original lease premium if they failed to complete construction in time.