Court rejects trust’s decision not to let ‘non-Marathi’ redevelop SoBo property

Mumbai: Non-Maharashtrian builders may cheat: This was the reason that a trust in the city cited for not calling public bids to redevelop its sprawling property in Girgaum. Last week, the Bombay high court refused to accept the Late Rao Bahadur Anant Shivaji Desai Topiwala Charity's excuse and also set aside the charity commissioner's order approving the trust's decision to appoint a builder chosen by it, essentially a Maharashtrian firm, to redevelop the prime property, Kudaldeshkar Brahmin Niwas. 

    "It is clear that the trustees dealt with it like it was their private property and did not follow any transparent procedure," said Justice G S Godbole, even as he ruled that the reason given by the trustees for not issuing a public ad was not "genuine". 

    The court has ordered the charity commissioner to ask the trust to call for bids by placing advertisements in newspapers. It also set the minimum reserve price for the plot at Rs 6 crore, besides other basic requirements, but none of the conditions included the criteria that the developer should be a Maharashtrian. 

    The Kudaldeshkar Brahmin Niwas, comprising four buildings constructed before 1925, houses around 122 tenants. Most tenants belong to the Kudaldeshkar Adya Gaud Brahmin community. In May 2011, the trust approached four builders and finally signed a deal to sell the plot to Raunak Constructions for Rs 6 crore. The developer was also supposed to give 4,000 sq-ft area to the trust and a 460 sq-ft flat to each tenant. 

    Feeling apprehensive that non-Maharashtrian developers might cheat them, the tenants had requested the trust to sell the land to a Maharashtrian construction firm, a trustee said. The charity commissioner in, September 2011, accepted the reasoning and approved the sale. But challenging the sale, another group of tenants, along with a builder, Siddhivinayak Developers, moved the high court, saying according to the ready reckoner rates, the property was worth over Rs 12 crore, an amount much higher than Rs 6 crore, which was offered by Raunak Constructions. 

    Senior advocate V A Thorat, counsel for Siddhivinayak Developers, claimed that the concept of having only a Maharashtrian builder was not only vague but also obnoxious, as every person staying in Maharashtra was a Maharashtrian. He called the reason for not calling for public bids "an eyewash". Agreeing, the court said, "No material was placed on record before the charity commissioner to prove the basis of the contention that the tenants wanted only a Marathi developer." The judge added Mumbai had many reputed developers of Maharashtrian origin at the helm and the trust had not explained the reason for approaching only four chosen developers. 

    "The entire process has been completed in a hush-hush manner behind closed curtains," said the judge while rapping the charity commissioner for not being vigilant. The court has ordered that bids be called and set some minimum criteria for the tenders. The conditions must include that the reserve price be fixed at Rs 6 crore, the developer will have to hand over a 4,000 sq-ft area to the trust free of cost, tenants would be rehabilitated in 460 sq-ft flats, the builder will set up a corpus fund for the tenant society, and an additional Rs 1 crore should be paid to the trust if extra FSI is approved. 

    THE COMMUNITY 

    Kudaldeshkar Aadya Gaud Brahman community hails from Konkan, Goa and some parts of coastal and central Karnataka. Kudaldeshkar Brahmins follow Shankaracharya's Advait school of philosophy and have their own threecentury-old shrine in Dabholi.

The ready reckoner rate of Kudaldeshkar Brahmin Niwas in Girgaum is over Rs 12 crore, but the trust chose a Maharashtrian developer who offered only Rs 6 crore