Mumbai: Amid a probe against the management of a school in Versova for alleged unauthorised construction and violation of lease terms, the BMC has transferred an engineer involved in the inquiry.
The assistant engineer of the building and factories department at K-West ward was shifted to the waterworks department for allegedly failing to inform his superiors before issuing a 'stop work' notice to the Children Welfare Centre (CWC) School and getting an FIR registered against two trustees of the school management. The civic staffer has, however, refuted the claims, asserting that his actions were approved by the officials.
CWC, the managing body of the school, has been facing scrutiny after BJP's Versova MLA Bharati Lavekar filed a complaint claiming that it has sub-leased part of the plots obtained from the civic body to a national chain of schools and carried out unauthorised constructions in the school building and land.
CWC denies all allegations
While CWC has denied all the allegations, a BMC team, which included the engineer, last week carried out an inspection of the school, where they claimed to have found illegal alterations in the building and encroachment on 14,000 sqft of municipal area. Subsequently, the civic body issued a notice to the school management, asking them to produce permits for the alleged illegal construction. An FIR was also registered at Versova Police Station under various sections of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act.
However, earlier this week, Prithviraj Chauhan, the assistant municipal commissioner (AMC) of K-West ward wrote to higher authorities at BMC, seeking the transfer of and disciplinary action against the staffer. Citing a complaint by Sanjay Pandey, another BJP leader, the AMC said that the engineer acted without orders from higher-ups and without authority. On Wednesday, the staffer was discharged from his duties.
Incidentally, the staffer is facing another inquiry on a different issue. He has been accused of digging up cricket pitches on the open space at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Sports Complex without obtaining permission or a no-objection certificate from the BMC's garden cell.
The engineer claims that he has been made a scapegoat in the politically charged issue. He said that he had acted according to the directions of his superiors, pointing out that the notice to the school as well as the complaint letter to the police was issued in the name of the designated officer-K/West ward.
The engineer claims that he has been made a scapegoat in the politically charged issue. He said that he had acted according to the directions of his superiors, pointing out that the notice to the school as well as the complaint letter to the police was issued in the name of the designated officer-K/West ward.
Inspection conducted at school premises
"The inspection of the school premises was carried out together by four civic departments - building proposal, building and factories, estate and education. We found that the school had clearly deviated from the building proposal approved plan, building proposal report and fire plan, and a notice was issued accordingly. I got transferred as the authorities were misled that I purposely acted against the school," said the engineer.
The action against the school has laid bare the political faultlines in the western suburbs. Following Lavekar's complaint, Ajay Kaul, the school's principal and founder trustee touted support from Gajanan Kirtikar, Mumbai North West MP from Shiv Sena, BJP's ruling ally, and MLC Kapil Patil, both of whom lashed out at the MLA and civic authorities.
The BMC staffers feel that they are caught between the competitive demands from different political sides. "We are sandwiched," said an official from the civic education department involved with the probe. Following the inspection, the education department has submitted a 'neutral' report which neither declares the management guilty nor exonerates it.
