MRTP notice scam in Vasai Virar; many notices 'legally ineffective' say activists

VASAI: A political activist has unearthed a MRTP-notice-scam in Vasai Virar, in which a lot of MRTP notices issued to illegal constructions endup being toothless. Another activist has termed such notices as legally ineffective as it lacks basic identification of the property. Meanwhile, senior officials of the vvcmc have assured that soon a circular would be released making it mandatory to mention basic details in the MRTP notice, which are issued to the land owner and the developer/Contractor.

A notice under the Maharashtra Regional & Town Planning Act, 1966, is issued to a landowner and the developer/contractor when the corporation finds out that the structure is illegal, and is termed as MRTP Notice in local jargon. However, activists say that the notice should identify the property with mentions like Survey Numbers, Hiss Number, name of the structure, name of the land owner etc. However a lot of MRTP notices only mention the total square feet of construction done along with a vague address and addressed to a person who may or may not be on the property documents.

Dharmendra Nigam, Vasai Virar Spokesperson of Shiv Sena (Shinde), said that hundreds of notices issued in Vasai Virar can be termed as a mere formality as they dont even have property details mentioned. The vvcmc staff simply visits an illegal construction site and paste's or hands over the MRTP notice, which is incomplete. This is a major scam and a few vvcmc staff are involved in this. He also added that such nameless notices cannot be a base for registering a serious offence like FIR and thus proves to be an escape route from the complainant, who is content with the notice issues. This is more than corruption, he concluded.

Terence Hendriques, an activist mentioned that, “If the survey numbers, construction details, and the specific sections violated are not accurately mentioned, the notice becomes technically weak. As a result, developers easily obtain interim protection from the court. He has demanded an immediate inquiry into this serious negligence and has called for complete transparency and 100% accuracy in the notice-issuing process.”

A senior vvcmc official confirmed that a mrtp notice should be complete with all the details. A notice should confirm the identity of the property, he added