Six industrial estate plots can be freehold now
The Delhi Government has decided to allow all its industrial estates to convert to freehold. A proposal to bring sale and resale activities in the industrial estates into the open by allowing conversion of properties to freehold was approved by the Cabinet recently, Industries Minister Mangat Ram Singhal said today.
Singhal said the DDA’s rates would apply in the case of six industrial estates under the Delhi Government. Bawana was not being included in the current list as it was yet to blossom into a full-fledged estate, he said. ‘‘We cannot encourage sales there now.’’
The objective, he said, was to bring transparency in sale of plots, ‘‘which was till now going on tacitly, depriving the government of its stamp duty and keeping the real owners in the dark’’. ‘‘This (conversion) will help put everything on record. And the real owners would be known,’’ officials said.
Around 5,500 plots are expected to benefit from the new decision. The government would offer a 40 per cent rebate to original allottees on conversion, while power-of-attorney holders would be charged 33.3 per cent surcharge on conversion to freehold, the Industries Minister said.
More: expressindia.com
MCD bulldozers hit Chandni Chowk
MCD bulldozers hit Chandni Chowk
UNAUTHORISED constructions in Chandni Chowk had to face MCD’s hammer once more on Wednesday. The MCD and a force of the Delhi Police sealed off the area from Town Hall gate to Water Fountain in Chandni Chowk. As curious onlookers watched, four properties were completely demolished above the Chabutras, and one property was partly demolished.
Deputy Commissioner, Central Zone, S.K. Mehrotra, said that the MCD had actually targeted 10 properties for action. But, three property-owners got stay orders from the High Court stopping the MCD from demolishing.
Today’s action costituted Phase four of the MCD’s ongoing demolition drive in the area. The action is in persuance of the High Court’s directive to make Chandni Chowk a ‘no-squatting zone’.
Mehrotra said that the MCD did not face much problems in demolishing the illegal constructions on Wednesday, as it had in the previous phases. In the earlier phases, owners locked their properties to stop the MCD from entering the buildings. To solve this problem, the MCD got a permanent order from the High Court, allowing teams to break open locks and enter the building to demolish the illegal floors.
In an unrelated move in the same area, the MCD sealed over 95 shops in Gali Kunjas. The shops had all been built illegally. While the MCD had sealed the same shops once before too, they had been re-opened after the shop owners got an order from the court. Mehrotra said that this sealing was being done Suo Moto by the MCD.
More: expressindia.com
20 years later, Delhi cops crack MCOCA whip on pimp
20 years later, Delhi cops crack MCOCA whip on pimp
FOR over 20 years, Kanwaljit Singh evaded the police. Every time he was arrested, with 17 cases against him under the Immoral Trafficking Act, he got bail. But this time, the police arrested him for running a prostitution racket and booked him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Billed as the biggest pimp in the Capital, the police said Singh has branches in Mumbai and Kolkata, besides Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore.
Tajinder Singh Luthra, DCP (Crime) said Singh was booked under MCOCA , invoked here as he is involved in organised crime. It will not be easy to get bail and confessions made before a police officer are admissible in court.
He was held at his mother’s house in Noida on Tuesday, after police busted a prostitution racket from near a posh hotel in Chanakyapuri and arrested two girls and Singh’s right-hand man, Arvinder Pal Singh. Police said Arvinder agreed to provide the girls for Rs. 20,000 and they were held while meeting a decoy customer. Last September, Singh escaped, but his gang members were arrested. He secured bail in the case.
More: expressindia.com
Taj is Waqf property, say UP Sunnis
Taj is Waqf property, say UP Sunnis
Even before the issue related to Taj Mahal’s status could be settled, the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board ( UPSWB) has declared it to be waqf property.
Shah Mohammad Shoaeb has sent a letter to the board claiming that he was a descendant of Emperor Shah Jehan and that he was prepared to submit proof that Taj was and is a waqf property.
However, the board has granted Archaeological Survey of India time up to May 20 to present its case
Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central waqf Board Chairman Hafiz Mohammad Usman said the status of Taj Mahal was that of ” Waqf Alal Khair".
He said that it was on the basis of records of ” Rouza Taj Mahal ” ( mausoleum) available in Badshah Nama of Emperor Shah Jehan that the monument qualified to be waqf property.
The Mulayam Singh government is also supporting the Sunni Board’s contention.
Usman said that Abdul Hameed Lauhori has in his records stated that the monument was waqf property.
More: sify.com
MCD, DMRC in face-off over property tax
MCD, DMRC in face-off over property tax
THE MCD and DMRC are both standing their ground on the issue of property tax, and the spoils of the battle will be more than Rs 2.64 crore.
The Corporation says DMRC is liable to pay tax as it uses municipal resources, and currently, ex-partie assement amounts to Rs 2.64 crore.
But according to a senior DMRC official, the Rail Corporation’s contention is that it is not liable to pay any property tax, adding that under Section 184 of the Railways Act, there is no need to pay property tax to any local body.
MCD officials say the Assessment and Collection had passed an order on March 30, saying the DMRC is eligible to pay property tax to MCD for all its buildings and stations. The order asks DMRC to pay property tax amounting to Rs 2,645,588,00. This includes arrears from 1999 onwards. The DMRC official says they will challenge the order in the high court.
Problem started with MCD’s first demand notice to the Rail Corporation in 1999, asking for Rs 66,83,300 as property tax. After this, the Corporation sent another demand note in 2000. The DMRC then filed a case in the high court, saying it was not liable to pay property tax to the MCD as it is a part of the Indian Railways.
On February 26, 2003, the HC said MCD consider DMRC’s contention on merit on whether it was liable to pay property tax or not.
After this, say MCD officials, DMRC’s case was heard by the Assessor and Collecter of MCD, Sangeeta Kampani.
According to the order, MCD has stated that DMRC is not a part of the Indian Railways, but an independant corporation with the Centre and the Delhi Government as shareholders. It says the DMRC is a corporate body and not sovereign railways. The order equates the DMRC with organisations like Scheduled Banks, Airport Authority of India, LIC and similar government corporations. According to MCD officials, all these bodies pay property tax.
More: cities.expressindia.com
Housing societies can restrict membership
Housing societies can restrict membership
Upholding the power of a co-operative housing society to restrict its membership to a particular class of people, the Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that the same rule could be applied in case of a sale of a flat in the society by an existing member.
“We uphold the right of the society to insist that the property has to be dealt only in terms of the bye-laws of the society and assigned either wholly or in parts only to persons qualified to be members of the society in terms of its bye-laws,” a Bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal and P K Balasubramanyan said.
A Co-operative Housing Society of the Parsi community had challenged the Gujarat High Court verdict that the restriction in a bye-laws of the society to the effect that the membership would be limited only to persons belonging to the community would be an unfair restriction.
“Unless appropriate amendments are brought to various Cooperative Societies Acts incorporating a policy that no society shall be formed or if formed, membership in no society will be confined to persons of particular persuasion, religion, belief or region.
“It could not be said that a society would be disentitled to refuse membership to a person who is not duly qualified to be one in terms of its bye-laws", the Bench, said.
Senior advocate Soli J Sorabjee, appearing for the Society had contended that under Article 19 (1)© of the Constitution, Parsis had a fundamental right of forming an association and there was nothing illegal in agreeing to restrict the membership in it or to exclude the general public at its discretion with a view to carry on its object smoothly.
More: sify.com
Real estate agents now pursue Indian migrant
Real estate agents now pursue Indian migrant
When Sudesh Jhunjhunwala arrived in Auckland from Hong Kong four years ago, he had to chase real estate agents to get them interested in finding properties.
Now, he says, the agents chase him.
Three times a week an agent calls the Indian migrant asking him to sell the Masport Industrial Estate in Mt Wellington. The 7ha block of land on Mt Wellington Highway has bright development prospects.
Fletcher Building and others are developing the former Winstones Quarry nearby, and Kiwi Income Property Trust has started its $300 million Sylvia Park project in the area.
Jhunjhunwala, aged 43, said his family’s company, Hind Properties, owns between $90 million and $100 million of real estate.
“We would like to double that, but not by paying silly money,” he said of the heated real estate market.
Hind - a reference to the family’s strong Hindu links - just sold Meadowlands shopping centre to the $6 billion Australian mall giant, Centro Properties Group, for $12.5 million. Two years ago Hind sold Central Park at Penrose to Australia’s Macquarie Goodman for more than $52 million.
Jhunjhunwala’s family - his grandfather was an accountant - is from Bhiwani, near New Delhi. He was born in Burma, and moved to Auckland four years ago when the scope of the family’s property interests here were so large that it was imperative to own an office here.
More: nzherald.co.nz
Now, Taj Hotels takes on another property in Dubai
Now, Taj Hotels takes on another property in Dubai
Dubai continues to be the latest hot business address, for Taj Hotels, owned by Indian Hotels Company Ltd, has added yet another property in Dubai to its portfolio.
The company has tied up with ETA Star Property Developers to develop and manage the Taj Exotica Resort and Spa at the Palm Island Jumeirah crescent in Dubai.
Increasing Dubai’s shoreline by 120 km, Palm Island Jumeirah is a man-made island, housing homes, waterfront resorts, boutique hotels, shopping arcades, spas, marinas and dynamic canals.
The Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, Dubai will be opened in 2007 and will be targeted at the premium leisure and business travellers, IHCL Managing Director Raymond Bickson said.
More: keralanext.com
Properties under State Rent Control Acts cant be attached
Properties under State Rent Control Acts cant be attached
My friend’s family is a traditional money-lender. It had loaned Rs 10 lakh to a borrower who failed to repay the amount. Consequently the faminly secured a decree from court at Coimbatore for attachment of the borrower’s property.
It was subsequently detected that all of the borrower’s properties were pre-attached in thedefault suits with the exception of a bungalow in which he is currently residing as a lessee for the past 10 years.
There is division of opinion within the family on the issue whether the leasehold rights in any property are a marketable commodity and subject to attachment. I would be immensely grateful if you would convey your views on the subject.
—Venkateswara
Venugopal Rao, Palghat
Section 60 of the Code of Civil Procedure specifically deals with the issue whether tenancy rights in a property can be attached and sold in execution of a court decree for recovery of outstanding dues.
The above section lists the type of properties that may or may not be attached and sold for the above purpose. This section further states that the residential properties falling with in the purview of the State Rent Control Acts are not liable to attachment or sale. However the properties over which the judgment debtor has disposing powers that he could exercise for his own benefit should be attached and sold. Such properties need not belong to the judgment debtor. Thus if your friend’s borrower has residential premises that are governed by the provisions of Tamil Nadu Rent Control Act then the bungalow can neither be attached nor sold in execution of a court decree.
As far as non residential properties are concerned it has been held by the Bombay High Court in the matter of Tangerine Electronics Systems Private Limited vs Indian Chemicals Company Limited that the tenancy rights in non residential properties are a salable with in the meaning of Section 60 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
More: financialexpress.com
Real estate market booming across board
Real estate market booming across board
THE real estate market in India has been doing exceptionally well for the past 10 months. While residential and retail prices have shot up, commercial prices in all major metros have been keeping pace with inflation, said Mr Anuj Puri, Managing Director, Chesterton Meghraj, an international property consultant firm.
Mr Puri spoke to Business Line about the the commercial, retail and residential markets in the metros. He said that prices in the commercial segment have kept up with the inflation rate — the lease price is between Rs 20 and Rs 30 per sq.ft. The main reason for this is the information technology (IT), ITES (information technology enabled services) and BPO (business process outsourcing) companies move to other centres if the price is too high in one city.
In Delhi, the boom in the IT and ITES has triggered development in Noida and Gurgaon.
But the retail space in Delhi has gone beyond sustenance levels, Mr Puri said. Land cost has shot up and one of the main reasons for this is “the way the Delhi Development Authority auctions are conducted,” he said.
Mr Puri said: “The residential market in Delhi has gone over the top. Any further price increase will only make itunsustainable for the end-user.” He said the high prices might not immediately affect the investor, who is a high net worth individual and will offload the property when the prices suit him. But eventually the high prices will also affect the investor because there will be no one to purchase at such high prices.
More: thehindubusinessline.com
Showroom in CP, godown in Guangzhou
Showroom in CP, godown in Guangzhou
If airlines are gearing up to fly six flights between India-China daily, from one a day at present, it’s not because guys carrying diplomatic passports or Gucci briefcases are zipping back and forth.
The real frequent flyers between India and China are those who fly economy, can’t afford to eat at Indian restaurants in China or stay in plush hotels. They run small businesses in India and scour Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities on the mainland for electronics, electricals, machinery, plastics, toys, leather, garments and consumer goods.
Meet Gaurav Chhabra, who deals in mobile-phone accessories and travels to China every two months: “I stay in Guangzhou for a month at a stretch at times. I can’t afford hotels. So, I’ve rented an apartment. Sourcing goods from China gives me a competitive advantage.”
Is he homesick? “The neighbourhood I live in has five Indian restaurants. I am quite comfortable in China,” says Chhabra.
He’s among thousands who travel to China every year for business. Last year, 70,000 visas were issued to Indians. This year till March, as many as 10,000 visas were issued, remarkable because February, when the Chinese celebrate the new year, is a lean period for business.
Some of these people will live in China for long periods, some virtually live there — one brother running the business in India, the other sourcing stuff from China. The dragon has hit desi markets and the Karol Bagh, Ghaffar Market or Bhagirath Palace businessman has invaded China’s cities.
Bhagirath Palace-based acoustic expert Aman Gupta has travelled to China 65 times in the last six years. He has bought office space in Shanghai. “It’s important for building credibility,” he says. Like him, hundreds of small businessmen are renting or buying property in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Guzhen.
Impulse job hunting hits London Workforce
Impulse job hunting hits London Workforce
Surfing for escapist jobs to while away five minutes of a dull office day is rapidly replacing surfing for exotic holidays, according to social, flatshare and recruitment site www.gumtree.com, which has dubbed the phenomenon “impulse job hunting". Some of the extraordinary jobs advertised on the site include a physiotherapist needed for the Sri Lankan cricket team on their tour of the West Indies, India, Australia and Colombo and a crew member to sail a yacht across the Bahamas.
Anyone who fancies spending their time in front of a screen playing shoot-em-ups rather than filling out spreadsheets could consider the role of Localisation Tester for the latest Java games, posted on the Edinburgh Gumtree.com. Those looking for something a little more active may be interested in joining a troupe of professional Haka performers, for TV and rugby promotions all over the world. The only consideration is that candidates have to be well-built Maoris.
A private estate set in the mountains north of Seville in Spain is looking for a cook for six months, and a resort in the Tioman Islands needs an experienced gardener to maintain and landscape a tropical garden.
Gumtree.com in London has over 20,000 jobs, in over 70 different categories including health and beauty, farming, sports and accounting. “Internet recruitment is ideal for allowing people to “impulse jobhunt", ie to surf for jobs they would not necessarily ever have considered, or even be able to access the details of,” says Gumtree.com’s founder Michael Pennington. “There’s nothing to stop you browsing the most outlandish and interesting jobs and daydreaming about a total career change, even if it bears little relation to reality. Radical job changes receive so much coverage in the media at the moment that people are more open to a total switch of sector than they used to be. On average people will have four different careers within their working life, and the Gumtree’s listings provide an opportunity to browse, daydream, and also genuinely consider a role that you’d never have dreamt of before.”
Land prices zoom as city readies for facelift with mega malls
Land prices zoom as city readies for facelift with mega malls
IN the next two years, the city is set for a major facelift with a number of shopping malls and multiplexes coming up in various areas like Ferozepur Road, Ghumar Mandi, Mall Road, Malhar Road etc. This has also led to a major increase in land prices in the city. In many areas, prices have more than doubled as construction activity for these mega shopping and entertainment complexes has begun.
Most of these developers are from Delhi, constructing malls and plazas here after realising the great potential in Ludhiana. A huge mall on the lines of Delhi’s Ansal Plaza is coming up on Ferozepur Road. Construction work has begun on the Westend Mall, a multiplex promoted by liquor baron Ponty Chadha and others near PUDA office on Ferozepur Road.
The Delhi-based Aerens Group is coming up with a gold souk and wedding souk (mega shopping complexes) on Laddowal, with an investment of Rs 60 crore. The construction on this project too began a few days ago. Property dealers near Jalandhar bypass say that the land prices near the site of the gold souk were only about Rs 1,400 per square yard some months ago. ‘‘The prices have now jumped to Rs 4,000 per square yard and are likely go up further,’’ says S P Singh, a property dealer.
Sources reveal that two marriage palaces on Ferozepur Road have also been sold to Delhi-based developers for more than Rs 40 crore each, and will be replaced by shopping malls. Two such constructions are also coming up in Ghumar Mandi. One of them is on a plot lying vacant for the last many years. Malhar Theatre is also all set to be converted to a multiplex too.
Says Raju Sharma, general secretary of Ludhiana Petroleum Dealers Association, ‘‘I always keep a close watch at property rates in the city, and the boom last year was unexpected. The largescale developments planned in the city have contributed to it in a big way,’’ he says.
More: cities.expressindia.com
Shangri-La signs up 3 hotels in B’lore
Shangri-La signs up 3 hotels in B’lore
Asian hotel major Shangri-La has added three Bangalore properties to its portfolio in India and is likely to pick up equity in another property in Mumbai to achieve its goal of 10-12 properties in the country in the next five years.
The group has signed management agreements with leading Bangalore developer Adarsh Group to operate three hotels in the city, adding about 1,000 rooms to its inventory in India.
It is likely to sign up a property in Chennai by the end of this month and also pick up equity in another in Mumbai.
‘’If the deal falls through, the Mumbai property would be Shangri-La’s first major investment in the country,'’ Shangri-La CEO and MD Giovanni Angelini said, adding it was too premature to comment on the amount finalised.
He said the group was hoping to expand its footprint to about 10-12 properties in the country in the next five years through its Shangri-La and Traders brands.
Shangri-La has already tied up with the Eros group in Delhi and the first Shangri-La in the country is likely to be operational by August this year.
More: sify.com
Hoteliers line up to check into A’bad
Hoteliers line up to check into A’bad
Call it the megacity effect if you will, but after cold shouldering Ahmedabad in the past, hoteliers are queuing up to check into the city with star-category projects.
Smelling big bucks, biggies like Radisson, Oberoi, Intercontinental, Taj and Apeejay are understood to be scouting around for options, even as local hoteliers from Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara are also making a beeline for the city.
What prompted a scramble for hotels in a city which was being passed over by biggies after the earthquake and riots? “With average occupancy of over 85 per cent in major hotels, the past one-and-a-half years has led to a room crunch.
And it takes only a major convention like the recent Lions International conference to realise this,” says Joseph D’Couto, general manager, Le Meridien Ahmedabad. He feels that Ahmedabad can easily take 300 more star category rooms over the next two years.
Realtors feel low property price, as compared to smaller cities like Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat and Jamnagar, is another reason for bringing hoteliers from other cities.
Darius Merchant, general manager (operations), Roots Corporation Ltd, says the megacity status had upgraded Ahmedabad’s perception. “It is not a B-class city anymore but a goldmine that has been grossly underrated for various reasons.”
But on top of their menu are the Hansol area where the airport is located, Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Road and Ashram Road. Even disputed hotel properties like Shalin and Karnavati on Ashram Road are being given the once over.
Six industrial estate plots can be freehold now
Six industrial estate plots can be freehold now
The Delhi Government has decided to allow all its industrial estates to convert to freehold. A proposal to bring sale and resale activities in the industrial estates into the open by allowing conversion of properties to freehold was approved by the Cabinet recently, Industries Minister Mangat Ram Singhal said today.
Singhal said the DDA’s rates would apply in the case of six industrial estates under the Delhi Government. Bawana was not being included in the current list as it was yet to blossom into a full-fledged estate, he said. ‘‘We cannot encourage sales there now.’’
The objective, he said, was to bring transparency in sale of plots, ‘‘which was till now going on tacitly, depriving the government of its stamp duty and keeping the real owners in the dark’’. ‘‘This (conversion) will help put everything on record. And the real owners would be known,’’ officials said.
Around 5,500 plots are expected to benefit from the new decision. The government would offer a 40 per cent rebate to original allottees on conversion, while power-of-attorney holders would be charged 33.3 per cent surcharge on conversion to freehold, the Industries Minister said.
More: expressindia.com
Delhi Police DCP, MCD official land in CBI net
Delhi Police DCP, MCD official land in CBI net
THE Delhi Police DCP in charge of Supreme Court security, Akhtar Ali Farooquee, was today booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income — over Rs 82.55 lakh.
Also in the CBI net was an MCD executive engineer, R B Bansal, earlier booked in the retro-reflective road signage scam. The CBI said he was found to be owning 18 residential and commercial properties in and around the capital. His assets were estimated to be around Rs 97.48 lakh (See list on Pg 4).
Farooquee is a 1978 batch DANIPS officer. Out of his total assets, Rs 61.55 lakh are alleged to have been acquired through illegal means.
CBI sleuths claimed to have found over Rs 1 lakh cash and 1 kg of gold from his house. The raids were conducted at five places in the capital, which included his official residence at Rajouri Garden, flats in Mayur Vihar and a girls hostel in Zakir Nagar.
Farooquee was earlier posted as Principal, Police Training College and has also done stints in Delhi Armed Police Battalion. He was also DSP Andaman and Nicobar and ACP IGI Airport. The CBI said Farooquee had acquired these assets since 1985.
Police sources said Farooquee also had a land dispute with one woman in Jamia Nagar and the latter had complained to the vigilance department.
Source: cities.expressindia.com
RKSwamy/BBDO Delhi pockets business worth Rs 20 crore
RKSwamy/BBDO Delhi pockets business worth Rs 20 crore
The Delhi office of RKSwamy/BBDO prefers to work quietly but aggressively. The agency has won the advertising account of GETIT Yellow Pages, a project for promoting Buddhists sites in India to Asian countries from the Department of Tourism – Government of India, and has gained an entry into to the agency roster of The Indian Tourism Development Board (ITDC).
The cumulative billings of all the three businesses put together is in the region of Rs 20 crore. Though all the three accounts were won in multi-agency pitches, the names of competing agencies could not be ascertained.
Underlining the task at hand for GETIT Yellow Pages, Ajit Shah, executive director, RKSwamy/BBDO, says, “The task is essentially to launch GETIT Yellow Pages in Delhi. In fact, we are very close to releasing campaigns on ‘usage’ of two of GETIT Yellow Pages directories. One focuses on the business-to-business aspect, and the other on business-to-consumer.” The GETIT account, informs Shah, has moved from Everest Integrated Communications.
For promoting the Indian Buddhist places, the agency has already conceived the campaign. Bearing the slug – ‘Come walk with the Buddha’, the campaign is an invitation to the tourists in countries such as China, Taiwan, Thailand and others to explore the historical testaments of Buddha across India. Shah is quick to point out that the campaign does not promote religion, but the Buddhist philosophy.
The campaign will break across all media. National Geographic Asia would air the commercial, and magazines such as Time and Newsweek would carry the advert. Internet and below-the-line too would be used to a great extent.
Source:Agencyfaqs
Nationwide CBI raids expose PSU corruption
Nationwide CBI raids expose PSU corruption
Air-India’s deputy general manager (sports) Praveen Barwae was enjoying a smooth ride in his Mercedes Benz on Wednesday when sleuths from the CBI raided him.
Apart from the Rs 41-lakh luxury sedan, Barwae owns two well-appointed flats in Mumbai, two in Pune and a plot worth Rs 30 lakh at Munnar.
Apart from Barwae, the premier investigating agency on Wednesday carried out a nationwide special drive against corrupt government officials.
The raids were carried out at 144 places and the CBI has registered 45 cases against 53 government officials. CBI officials were startled when they found that a divisional engineer of BSNL Dumka (Jharkhand), Bansilal Gupta owned a hotel worth about Rs 1.26 crore at Deoghar. They seized cheques worth Rs 24.60 lakh from his premises. Another Rs 10 lakh was seized from Sanjay Sharma, another BSNL engineer in Ranchi, who has properties worth over Rs 75 lakh in Patna beside other assets worth over Rs 2 lakh.
Strikes were also conducted at the premises of several Coal India officials in Jharkhand. Searches at the Central Coalfields Limited’s director (Ranchi) S K Basu revealed disproportionate assets worth Rs 37 lakh. Former CCL CMD M K Thapar’s premises were also raided leading to discovery of assets worth Rs 29 lakh. Jewellery, accounts, lockers and movable properties belonging to Thapar, who is the CMD SECL now, are being assessed.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
CBI nets corrupt officials in nationwide raids
CBI nets corrupt officials in nationwide raids
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday raided 144 spots across the country, including in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, in a drive against corrupt officials.
About 100 CBI sleuths were involved in the raids on corrupt officials of police, banks, posts, revenue and other government departments, seizing movable and immovable property, cash, jewellery and other valuables worth Rs.110 million, a CBI spokesperson said.
“Forty-five cases were registered against 85 people under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Indian Penal Code and Wireless Act during Wednesday’s drive, whose main focus was detection of disproportionate assets,” CBI director U.S. Mishra said at a press conference.
This is the second such raid in less than three months. Property, cash, jewellery and other valuables worth Rs.215 million were recovered during a similar drive Feb 2.
“During the period Jan 1 to March 31, 45 officials were caught accepting bribes and cases were registered against 28 public servants for having disproportionate assets,” Mishra said.
Some officials whose residential and office premises were raided include two Delhi officials A.A. Farooqui, deputy commissioner of police, security (Supreme Court), and Sanjay Kumar Shah, director of finance in the urban development ministry.
While Farooqui was booked for having disproportionate assets worth Rs.6.15 million, movable and immovable assets worth Rs.4.8 million were recovered from Shah.
A joint commissioner of income tax was booked in Mumbai for possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs.1.7 million in the name of his wife and son.
Source: newindpress