15 March,2015 08:08 AM IST | | Laxman Singh
The Agripada Police Station have lodged an FIR after official papers pertaining to a building in Opera House went missing four years ago
Parekh Market building in Opera House
After a nearly four-year-long wait to access the missing documents of a residential building in Opera House under Right To Information (RTI), an FIR has been registered by the Agripada Police Station against the administrative officers who worked at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) from 1978-2011. This was done after they received an order from the BMC commissioner regarding the missing documents of the building. mid-day had earlier reported about the illegal alterations made by the landlord to Parekh Market Building in Opera House.
Parekh Market building in Opera House
The case
In December 2013, Girish Parekh, the owner of Parekh Market Building at Opera House, had made some alterations to the 10th floor of the building, without seeking the necessary permissions from the BMC. Finding the changes illegal, the civic body had sent him a stop-work notice. However, Parekh claimed that the structural changes had been made as per approved plans in 1999. Two years before that, in 2011, Jeetendra Ghatge, who owns a shop in the building compound, had sought information regarding the documents under RTI, but the BMC had claimed that the papers were missing. However, the civic body was not ready to file an FIR regarding the missing documents.
The incident had raised questions regarding a nexus between BMC officials and Parekh. Finally, after Information Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad sent orders in February, 2014 and the BMC commissioner Sitaram Kunte sent one in December 2014, the Agripada Police station registered an FIR on March 10, 2015. Speaking to sunday mid-day, Ghatge said: "The BMC gave a clean chit to my landlord, even when all the documents went missing. Now, there is not a single paper of my residential building with them. The landlord tried to put pressure on me, including eviction notice to shut my shop.
Now, there is a ray of hope with this inquiry." Official speak When contacted, Parekh refused to comment on the matter. Vijay Tawade, executive engineer of Buil-ding Proposal Department, BMC, said: "I will check and call you," and disconnected the call. Shirish Sardeshpande, additional commiss-ioner, ACB, said: "I will not able to say anything since I am out of Mumbai and will be back on Monday."
