Relief for former CTP as suspension revoked

Panaji: State govt closed the disciplinary proceedings against former chief town planner Rajesh Naik, who was suspended following allegations of under-assessment of fees for land conversion under Section 17(2) of the TCP Act, causing a loss of crores to the exchequer, chief secretary V Candavelou said.


TCP minister Vishwajit Rane said state govt has revoked the suspension order. “We had requested to withdraw the suspension as the court gave him a clean chit. CM has withdrawn the suspension,” Rane said.


The directorate of vigilance initiated an inquiry after advocate general Devidas Pangam told the high court, hearing a PIL against the deliberate under-assessment of fees, that it found 46 beneficiaries of zone change, where the fees were under-assessed.


Following the inquiry, the TCP department submitted the files related to 46 cases of under-assessment of fees to the directorate of vigilance. The TCP department also passed some orders for the cancellation of conversion of land over the failure to pay the difference amount in conversion fees.


One of the petitioners challenging the under-assessment, Swapnesh Sherlekar, alleged that the TCP department deliberately undervalued the calculation of fees for the correction of zones under Section 17(2) of the TCP Act by applying the old rate of Rs 200 per sqm instead of Rs 1,000 per sqm as stipulated by the new notification of March 28, 2024.
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