Bombay HC pulls up Maharashtra officials for inaction on Nirav Modi bungalow

Questioning the inaction of local authorities over an alleged illegally constructed bungalow in Alibaug belonging to fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi the Bombay High Court today said that it will direct the state government to initiate an inquiry into the issue A bench of justices AS Oka and RI Chagla is likely to pass an order on Thursday directing the inquiryThe bench also questioned how the collector of Raigad district where Alibaug is situated had decided to exempt Modis bungalow from demolitionIt was hearing a petition filed by activist Surendra Dhavale seeking that the court direct the authorities to demolish all unauthorised construction within the low and high tide areas in a bunch of villages in AlibaugAs per the petition such construction had been carried out in violation of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority rules and the land laws of the stateThere are around 175 such private residences in CRZ areas in villages such as Varsoli Sasvane Kolgaon and Dokvade among others in Alibaug taluka belonging to several wealthy persons including Nirav Modi and several businessmen and film actors the PIL claimedIn compliance with a previous order of the bench Raigad collector Vijay Suryavanshi filed an affidavit todayIn the affidavit Suryavanshi said that the SubDivisional Officer SDO concerned had referred a total of 159 cases of alleged illegal construction in Alibaug to the Maharashtra Coastal Management Zone AuthorityIn the affidavit he said that 12 of these were demolished land records of several others were still being ascertained and it was found that Modis bungalow was not in violation of any normsAs per the affidavit Modis bungalow was constructed prior to 1986 before the coastal zone norms were ratified for the Raigad area and therefore it couldnt be held in any violationThe collectors office also submitted that since the said bungalow had now been attached by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI it could not take any actionThe bench however took strong exception to the above submissionsThe affidavit merely states that Mr Modis bungalow was constructed prior to 1986 But what is the basis of this finding Is there any land record or official document to affirm the same the bench askedAlso what use is the statement that the collectors office cant take action in view of the CBI having attached the property The collector is not helpless the bench saidThe bench also noted that through an order passed in June this year the SDO had dropped all proceedings against Modis bungalow and closed the fileHow was it the SDOs prerogative to close the file The manner in which the local authorities are behaving when it comes to this bungalow is forcing us to direct the principal secretary of the state Revenue Department to initiate an inquiry in the case the bench said while posting the matter to Thursday for passing of ordersCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever