Lodha Group is building Palava City, a mega township near Mumbai. (Deepak Joshi) Lodha Group is building Palava City, a mega township near Mumbai. (Deepak Joshi)

Facing criticism over charges of corruption levelled against some of its ministers, the BJP in Maharashtra stares at yet another controversy with evidence emerging that senior party legislator Mangal Prabhat Lodha’s business venture was granted benefits by the previous government in the state.

An investigation by The Indian Express has found that the authorities granted “irregular” floor space to Palava City, a mega township project being developed near Mumbai by the Lodha Group, of which the BJP legislator is the chairman and founder.

Official documents accessed by this newspaper show that 30 lakh square feet of additional built-up space was sanctioned, allegedly in contravention of norms for areas that are part of the township development. Senior government officials admitted that the gain translated into several hundred crores of rupees.

The Lodha Group, however, said it was an internal matter of the government, even as the urban development department has sought cancellation of the approval granted in September 2014, when the Congress-NCP combine was in power.

While the group said MLA Lodha was not required to personally respond to the queries, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said he did not recollect anything in the context. “I will have to call for details before commenting further,” he said.

Being promoted as Mumbai’s sister city, the Palava City is a special township project coming up between Navi Mumbai and Dombivali near the state capital. Modelled on the lines of a smart city, the proposed township will have a mix of plush residential, commercial and business address. The developers have even roped in actor Amitabh Bachchan as Palava’s “first citizen”.

Though norms cap the maximum permissible floor space index (FSI) — the ratio of built-up area to the plot area — for similar-sized township projects at 1.6 times the notified area, official documents show that an additional 20 per cent floor space on payment of a premium was sanctioned for Palava’s plans in notified areas in Kalyan’s Antarli and Khoni villages. The urban development department, which is headed by the chief minister, has now confirmed that the development regulations applicable for the notified area of the township disallow grant of FSI on payment of premium. An internal report confirms that Palava was granted 20 per cent FSI (30 lakh sq ft) on payment of a premium of Rs 9.01 crore.

The irregularity was not a part of the original approval extended to the project on March 28, 2014. The ‘paid FSI’ was extended as part of a revised approval granted on September 18, 2014, after the Maharashtra government, under the Congress-NCP rule, included more areas in the township’s notified territory. The department has now written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis suggesting cancellation of the approval.

Also under the scanner now is the role of another senior town planner Sanjay Kurve, who while holding the post of joint director (town planning), Konkan, recommended grant of the paid FSI for the project on August 26. Acting on this recommendation, the then Thane collector, P Velrasu, a 2002-batch IAS officer, sanctioned the grant of paid FSI.

Kurve remained unavailable for comment.

The irregularity came to light only after the developers approached the town planning joint director’s office again for a revised layout and building plans on November 18. N R Shende, who succeeded Kurve, then red-flagged it. Though Shende remained unavailable for comment, The Indian Express has accessed his internal communication to Director (Town Planning) Rajan Kop dated May 5, 2015. It pointed out that norms under the Development Control and Promotion Regulations, 2013, for A, B, C-class municipal councils were applied for justifying the paid FSI grant even as the notified area for the township was situated outside any council’s limits. It also said independent DC rules were already in place for the area notified under the township — the Ambernath, Kulgaon-Badlapur and Surrounding Notified Area (AKBSNA) — where maximum permissible limits for FSI were defined on the basis of land use, and that it did not provide for grant of premium FSI.

On June 20, Kop sought the government’s guidance in the matter, while agreeing that the paid FSI should not have been applied too for the township.

Incidentally, he had suggested that “as a matter of fait accompli” the government continued with the contentious September 18 approval. But the state urban development department has struck down this suggestion, and has approached the CM for orders to cancel this approval.

There may however be a bailout option. The government’s internal communications on this issue have pointed out that the AKBSNA rules do not count common areas such as lift, staircase and passages in FSI computations. These areas were reportedly counted in the FSI calculations in Palava’s case. Sources said this could offset some of the benefits which were unduly passed on.

‘An internal matter of the government’

In response to a detailed questionnaire sent via e-mail, the Lodha Group attributed the controversy to an “internal clarification” debated within the government. “The query is an internal clarification sought by the department.

It would have no impact on our development. It is related only to a small part of our development falling in two specific villages.”

It added, “In case of 0.2 (premium) FSI, the DC regulations applicable to a regional plan counted staircases in the FSI, and in lieu thereof provided 0.2 FSI on payment of premium.

Whereas the AKBSNA development regulations provide that staircase shall be counted free of FSI.

The authorities concerned have sought this query and the Urban Development department shall decide on it. Many such clarifications in case of lack of clarity/conflict in different regulations are put up to the department from time to time.”

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