Nashik civic body completes hearings in MHADA case

Nashik: The civic body has completed hearings of 169 landowners and developers accused of violating mandatory Economically Weaker Section (EWS) housing norms and will submit a detailed report to state govt and a Special Investigation Team probing the matter.The hearings were conducted by the town planning department of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) as part of an ongoing scrutiny into alleged violations of the rule mandating 20% EWS housing reservation for projects spanning more than 4,000 sqmt.Last month, the Sarkarwada police registered a cheating case against more than 150 landowners and developers for allegedly bypassing the EWS housing requirement. The FIR was lodged following a complaint by a land records department official after an inquiry by the additional district collector found violations of the state housing policies of 2013 and 2017, which require developers to allot reserved units to eligible beneficiaries through MHADA.A senior official from the town planning department said hearings were held for all 169 parties, and maps related to 49 survey numbers were examined during the process. "The hearings are now complete, and a comprehensive report is being prepared based on the submissions and findings," the official said.According to the official, preliminary observations indicate mixed compliance. "In some cases, landowners have kept land aside for EWS housing, while in others, the plot area was found to be below 4,000 sqmt. All such observations will be included in the report to be submitted to the government and the SIT," the official added.State govt recently constituted an SIT, headed by Nashik divisional commissioner Praveen Gedam, to probe alleged violations of the EWS quota in the city. The investigation covers 49 projects executed between 2013 and 2024, in which developers are accused of using fraudulent land bifurcation to evade providing 20% of residential units under the MHADA quota.