One year after the Mumbai high court stayed the allotments
and asked the government to frame new guidelines, the government
has come up with the new guidelines.
The government has kept out corporators, legislators and
MPs; former or present or their immediate families, and also
retired government employees from the list of those eligible
for plots under this coveted regulation.
The general opinion still is that the guidelines lack transparency
with people still having no clue about how toe allotment process
works and politics plays a more important role than eligibility.
As per the new rules, the government will now have to issue
public notice for plots that it plans to allot for residential
and non-residential purpose. Applications will be scrutinised.
A sub-committee will be formed under the housing minister
which will then then allots the plot to the party it feels
"needs" the land the most. Currently the department
is headed by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
Such allotments are going to be restricted to the 2 per
cent discretionary quota the committee is empowered to use
under the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA)
Act.
Co-operative Housing Societies and public trusts may still
get preferential allotment but it will be able to keep track
of the number of such allotments and their beneficiaries.
This proceedure is expected to introduce greater transparency
since it is different from the earlier allotment process wherein
those close to politicians could get a plot in their names.
