Maha govt allowing windfall gains to private players: Devendra Fadnavis

Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis alleged that certain "vested interests have colluded" with the aim of extending "benefits to a handful of parties at the expense of the state exchequer"

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and leader of Opposition in the assembly Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday alleged that certain "vested interests have colluded" with the aim of extending "benefits to a handful of parties at the expense of the state exchequer".

In his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Fadnavis wrote that "There seems to be a systematic method devised to give windfall benefit to said real estate developers by fragmented and prejudiced reduction of ready reckoner of some of their self-owned and interest plots to the extent of 70 per cent of the existing ready reckoners' rates."

This letter comes after a committee chaired by Deepak Parekh was formed for seeking suggestions to revive the ailing real estate sector due to the pandemic. The recommendations suggested by the said committee, it seems, are being implemented selectively without considering the real effect of the same, alleged Fadnavis.

The former Chief Minister said that he always support steps taken to boost the demand during pandemic and decisions like rationalisation of stamp duty rates, however, under the garb of reduction for rationalisation, windfall gains cannot be allowed to a handful.

"The said reduction leads to a reduction of payments to be made to the competent authorities. The table below shows the indicative reductions in payments. Following the success of this modus operandi, it is now proposed using the Deepak Parekh committee report to further halve the statutory payments levied by the Corporations and State Government," Fadnavis added.

"It seems that certain vested interests have colluded for the purpose of extending benefits to a few handful parties at the expense of State exchequer. I must state here that the actions of the State Government must be free from the vice of arbitrariness and must conform to Article 14 of the Constitution of India," he further wrote.