Bombay Dyeing got nod for developing land illegally: Govt

In a setback to Bombay Dyeing, the Maharashtra government has informed the Bombay High Court that the textiles major had obtained approval for using a mill land in central Mumbai for commercial development "illegally and unlawfully" with the connivance of a government officer not vested with the authority.

According to government's affidavit, the approval granted to Bombay Dyeing for modifying its proposal to utilise 33,545 sq m of its 41,895 sq m mill land in Dadar-Naigaon for commercial development by a section officer working in the state's department of Co-operation, Marketing and Textiles was without any authority.

The affidavit was filed in December last year in response to a petition by Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company Ltd challenging the stop work notice issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in June 2012 following a letter to them by the state government stating that no official approval was granted to the company to modify its proposal.

"The section officer working in the textile department one P D Chavan on October 4, 2004 issued a letter to the petitioner (Bombay Dyeing) allegedly according approval to the said proposal dated August 19, 2004 without any authority of law," the affidavit filed by Chandrashekar Gajbe, Deputy Secretary, Department of Co-operation, Marketing and Textiles
stated.

The government learnt about the approval only after it was mentioned in a report of the Bombay Textile Research Association in February 2009.

"It was on receipt of the said report that the alleged issuance of the said approval came to light which was illegally and unlawfully obtained by the petitioners in connivance with the said officer," Gajbe said in the affidavit.

The affidavit said the proposal was not approved by either the minister of textiles or the chief minister. "Although the alleged approval stated that it was forwarded to the state Urban Development Department and the municipal corporation, it was not forwarded to either of the authorities and it was not found in the records of the textile department," the affidavit claimed.