Former VC Mungekar opposes transfer of MU land to MMRDA

Congress leader and former vice chancellor of Mumbai University (MU) Bhalchandra Mungekar on Wednesday alleged a "land scam" at the university's Kalina campus in north Mumbai.

Addressing a press conference here, Mungekar said a deal for transfer of 8.5 acres of MU land in Kalina to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) was non-transparent and fraught with gross irregularities.

"I urge thestate government to immediately stay the deal or even scrap it. I also demand that a high-level enquiry committee be appointed to investigate this dubious deal," he said.

The then VC had written to the state government in May 2016, seeking approval for transferring about 8.5 acres of land in Kalina campus for construction of roads connecting to the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), he said.

In October 2016 the government approved the plan and MU and the MMRDA entered into an agreement, he said.

The MMRDA, not being able to compensate in cash, agreed to compensate MU through Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), which the varsity could sell, he said.

The university through this sale is likely to raise Rs 3,000 crore, to be deposited with the MMRDA, and the varsity would use these funds as per its needs, he said.

MMRDA is also supposed to create a Master Plan for revamp of the university, Mungekar said.

However, it was not known whether the Chancellor of the Universities (state governor) was informed about this deal and whether the Management Council of MU had authorised it, the former VC said.

"The MMRDAwouldsell the university land, keep money with itself, prepare the MP and also construct the buildings. The university has no role whatsoever," he alleged.

Mungekar further claimed that the government approved the proposal under the Maharashtra University Act, 1994, which had already been replaced by the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016.

Kalina Campus was so far treated as No Development Zone, and no university in Maharashtra or in the country has ever allowed an elevated road to run through its campus, he said.

"I met governor and chancellor of the university