Mira-Bhayandar: The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has found itself on a sticky wicket for allegedly issuing Transferable Development Rights (TDR) to a local developer on the virtue of fake documents. sale deeds and power of attorney.
The matter came to light after the Kashigaon police registered a FIR (0170/2025) on Friday (25, April) against Binoy Pramod Shah who is a director of a construction company and is closely associated with an influential political leader of the major alliance party which is ruling the state. However, the accused was yet to be arrested.
The FIR registered under sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC followed in response to a complaint filed by a 70-year-old farmer identified as-Gulab Singh.
In his complaint, Singh stated that he had purchased a land parcel measuring 4,856 square meters in the revenue village of Kashigaon in 2000 from the original owners. After a couple of years, Singh left for his native village in Uttar Pradesh.
However, due to medical related complications he had to stay back and returned in 2024 only to learn that the accused had availed TDR rights from the MBMC by submitting forged sale deeds and power of attorney creating an impression that they were authorised by the previous land owners.
The complainant also alleged that Shah, who managed to get the documents registered in 2018, went on to apply before MBMC’s Town Planning (TP) department seeking TDR against the said property. This despite the fact that one of the original land owners-Mrs Teres Baranja Vaity had passed away on 11, January, 2013.
The complaint further alleged that the TP officials granted the rights without verifying the titleship of the property. Refuting the allegations as false and baseless, Shah said, “I don’t even know the complainant. I had duly purchased the property from the original land owners by making payments via cheques in 2011 against which I availed TDR on the virtue of genuine sale deeds and power of attorney.”
Notably, the two TDR certificates against land admeasuring around 1031 sq.mt and 1700 sq.mt which were issued have already been sold and consumed to load extra Floor Space Index (FSI) in buildings which had been constructed and occupied.
A petition (613/2021) filed by the landowners is pending in the court of civil judge, Thane. While the Kashigaon police are conducting further investigations into the case, the matter has yet again raised a serious question mark on the genuineness of the mechanism which is being followed to award TDR rights also known as development rights certificates (DRC) which can be traded in the market and used for additional development in designated development zones.
