This could well be Part II of the Bollywood comedy
Khosla Ka Ghosla about a middle-class man's unbelievable
experiences while trying toget back his property filched
by a conman with powerful connections.
But this one is for real.
Some time ago, a ground-plus-one-storey building
in Goregaon (West), known as Gulmohar Cooperative
Housing Society, was declared a ‘slum' by the Slum
Authority (SRA).
The benefits for the builder redeveloping the property
are not far to seek: a much higher FSI of 4 as against
the FSI of 2 which is granted to a housing society.
Incidentally, there are records which show that the BMC
has been assessing the 50-year-old building for property tax since 1962.
Even as the decision to categorise the building as a slum
was challenged by a 75-year-old resident of Gulmohar
Society in July, came another twist.
The Bank of India recently started
recovery proceedings through the Debt Recovery
Tribunal to auction a tiny flat in the same building.
But the comedy of errors does not end here.
The portion of the building in which the flat
existed has already been demolished by
the builder who is now redeveloping the so-called
slum property.
On Wednesday evening, more than half-a-dozen
professional property traders landed up at the
Debt Recovery Tribunal office at Ballard Estate
to bid for the flat. All of them had promptly given
in their earnest money deposit of Rs 50,000 as part
of the bidding process for a flat which no longer exists.
Even more hilarious—none of them had seen the flat
knew that it had already been demolished.
"I was all set to bid a substantial amount.
, the bid was postponed at the last moment.
It was only then that we realised that the flat
was demolished two months ago,"
said one of the flabbergasted bidders.
When an official in
the asset recovery branch of Bank of India
was asked by one of the bidders about this,
was allegedly told that the highest bidder would only get
"symbolic possession"of the non-existent flat.
In July, the 75-year-old Goregaon resident
of Gulmohar Society, Shobhana Sharadchandra Kulkarni,
had filed a writ petition in the Bombay high court,
challenging the decision of the SRA to declare the
building a slum. The petitioner submitted that
there was a nexus among some members of the housing society,
the builder and the SRA who did this to get the benefits of a much higher FSI.
When the case came up, a bench headed by the
Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar referred the matter
to the state government-appointed slum tribunal.
The petition was subsequently withdrawn.
In the meantime, the builder started demolishing the property.
Meanwhile, Kulkarni's son Sachin has
filed a private complaint with the metropolitan magistrate
in Borivli against committee members of Gulmohar Society,
the builder, the architect and the SRA for the alleged fraud.
The magistrate recently passed an order, directing the
Goregaon police station to investigate the matter and
report to him by October 14.
"Considering the serious allegations and considering
facts and circumstances of the case, it seems necessary
to send this complaint for investigation to the concerned
police station,"said the magistrate's order of August 13.
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