‘Was not in favour of granting extra FSI’
Former state urban development secretary Ramanand Tiwari told the Adarsh Commission, on Friday, that he was not in favour of giving additional floor space index (FSI) of the BEST plot at Colaba to Adarsh Society.
Former state urban development secretary Ramanand Tiwari told the Adarsh Commission, on Friday, that he was not in favour of giving additional floor space index (FSI) of the BEST plot at Colaba to Adarsh Society.
The society had, in March 2003, written to the then chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde seeking extra FSI for the society. The request was turned down in January 2004 by the then minister of state for urban development Sunil Tatkare, as the land was reserved for BEST depot and grant of additional FSI was not permissible under city’s development control rules of 1991.
The society members had another meeting with Tatkare in July 2004 to seek the additional FSI for the society. In this meeting, the then state urban development secretary, Tiwari, had said that it was not feasible to allot the FSI of reserved land though the society was willing to pay the cost of the land to the state. However, on August 2005, the state government allowed the society to use the plot.
Tiwari claimed that the government did not follow the procedure under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act while allotting the extra FSI. “The request made by the society was not in accordance with the existing regulation. The Government of Maharashtra did not follow the procedure stated under section 37 of the MRTP Act,” he said.
Tiwari was the principal secretary of the urban development department from 2002 to 2008 during which Adarsh society got regulatory clearances. Tiwari’s son, Omkar, has a flat in the society.
During his tenure, Tiwari had also noted on a relevant file that it was not feasible to allot the FSI to the society.
There are allegations that Tiwari had used his authority to give clearances to the society and has been charge-sheeted by the CBI. He was also sacked from the post of the state information commissioner after the Adarsh scam surfaced.