Mumbai: In a reprieve to residents of housing societies at prime locations in Bandra Reclamation and Worli, Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained till Aug 13 the issuance of any work order for cluster redevelopment projects on 132 cumulative acres of land in Mumbai.The state said the large layouts belonged to Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada), which had leased them to societies for the high- and middle-income groups and govt employees, but now would redevelop them to increase the affordable housing inventory via public bids. The bid was won by Adani Properties.A group of 10 petitions by cooperative housing societies including HIG Adarsh Nagar, Parijat, B-Adarsh Nagar and Kamalpushpa had challenged govt’s decision for a cluster redevelopment, saying the land had been conveyed to them and their ownership rights cannot be undone by a govt resolution (GR).On July 2, Bombay High Court dismissed the petitions and the challenge by the society as meritless. The state’s action demonstrates a larger public interest, HC held. The multiple affected housing societies disagreed and, aggrieved, went to the apex court to appeal.SC Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta heard senior counsel Shyam Diwan, Guru Krishna Kumar, Chander Uday Singh and Navin Pahwa for the housing societies and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi for the state at some length. SC then directed the state, Mhada and others to file their replies in a week to the special leave petitions (SLPs). Societies can file their rejoinder in a week thereafter.SC posted the matter next on Aug 13 and said: “Till then, the work order shall not be issued.”Diwan said Maharashtra Advocate General had before HC earlier said no work order would be issued for a while and the deadline was expiring.Allottees or lessees have limited rights, which are subject to Mhada’s right to redevelop the lands, HC had held. Before SC, the lessee societies submit that even where govt is the lessor, it cannot resume (take back possession of) the land in the absence of a breach of lease covenants by the lessee, and if it needs to resume for a public purpose, it has to acquire the leasehold interest under the Land Acquisition Act.Mhada’s stand which HC accepted was that permitting individual societies in layouts such as Adarsh Nagar and Bandra Reclamation to independently redevelop isolated buildings through private developers would completely defeat the larger policy framework underlying the aforesaid GR and Regulation 33 (5).

A 12-hour delay in treatment left Sharad Kadam partially paralysed

Mumbai: A 73-year-old man who suffered a stroke while driving his car last week, leading to a minor accident, was kept at Versova police station for allegedly five hours for suspected drunk driving, which resulted in him missing the crucial golden window to seek medical treatment, leaving him partially paralysed. His treatment was allegedly delayed by nearly 12 hours and he has been in the ICU since then.The family of Sharad Kadam, a Versova resident, said police suspected him of driving drunk, owing to his slurred speech after the stroke but did not subject him to any breathalyser test. Police claimed he told doctors at Cooper Hospital, where he was taken for a blood alcohol test after the FIR was filed, that he was drunk. Another test at Nanavati Hospital, to which Kadam was admitted around 8pm for treatment, showed no presence of alcohol. Police said Cooper Hospital’s test report is still awaited.As per the law, in drunk driving cases, police have to first take the suspect to a hospital for blood alcohol tests instead of the police station.Kadam, a retired businessman who lives alone in Versova—his wife and son are in Canada, allegedly lost control of his car after suffering a stroke and brushed against another car around 9am on July 25. Police filed an FIR against him for rash, negligent and drunk driving based on a constable’s complaint. The constable claimed Kadam reeked of alcohol when police arrived at the accident spot. His family got him shifted from Cooper Hospital to Nanavati Hospital around 8pm.Rohan Rathod, a corporator from Andheri West who is Kadam’s nephew, told TOI on Wednesday that police and the occupant of the other car—a doctor—ignored the signs of stroke and his advanced age, refused him medical aid, and “were adamant on filing an FIR”. “A relative, who is a lawyer, rushed to the police station and found that he had collapsed there. She also noticed my uncle’s slurred speech. But police continued to claim he was drunk. The delayed medical assistance left the right side of his body paralysed,” said Rathod.MLA Ameet Satam has written to DCP Purushottam Karad seeking action against the Versova police personnel involved. In his letter, he said he had asked Versova police senior inspector Deepshika Ware why prompt medical attention was not given to Kadam but he got no clear answers.Karad and Ware were not available for comments.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday quashed the suspension of the food safety standards licence of a Navi Mumbai four-star hotel, Park Inn by Radisson, observing that a “solitary finding regarding the presence of two insects’’ when viewed against the overall “satisfactory” compliance report on hygiene, maintenance and operation did not justify the continued suspension of the licence.“We are in India we have to take realistic stand,’’ said acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge as he and Justice Gautam Ankhad were hearing the Navi Mumbai hotel matter.The ongoing FDA drive under its new commissioner, Tukaram Mundhe, recently shuttered the kitchens of a popular Udipi restaurant, Poornima, and the upper crust Cricket Club of India (CCI) in south Mumbai.On July 3, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), following a surprise inspection the previous day, immediately suspended in the public interest the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence of Park Inn by Radisson for reasons of “serious lapses in hygiene, sanitation, food storage and food handling practices”.The hotel, through its HR head, petitioned the high court on July 6 seeking the suspension be quashed and set aside. On July 17, the high court, on the hotel’s claim of compliance, directed an FDA panel to inspect and again on July 20 asked for a re-inspection of a certain portion.On July 22, the inspection report cited 95% compliance but pointed to “cockroach infestation’’ at a dishwasher and sweet preparation area.Hotel counsel Mayur Khandeparkar and advocate Sagar Shetty said that “mere presence of two insects is not a reason sufficient to place the establishment … under suspension’’, especially when all other compliances were met. They argued that the continued suspension was arbitrary. They offered undertakings to ensure and continue to maintain the highest standards of sanitation, hygiene and safety and strict compliance of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, for food preparation, storage and service. The high court accepted the undertaking.The high court said that it was not going into the larger issue raised, that is, whether a 14-day improvement notice forms an indispensable pre-condition before directing immediate suspension. All such larger legal issues, the high court kept open. The high court warned the hotel that any breach of conditions shall entitle the FDA to take action.The high court asked government pleader Neha Bhide whether all eating houses and establishments in Maharashtra, including those eating houses which are operated by statutory authorities or state instrumentalities or semi-government establishments, had been inspected by the food and drugs department in the drive under the food safety law.Bhide informed the high court that by Friday “the court will be apprised of the details of inspections carried out all over the state of Maharashtra, including of any eating establishments operated by the government or semi-government institutions or on contract basis with any government department, et cetera”.The high court recorded its appreciation for the state and FDA actions in enforcing provisions of the food safety law.Bhide said the drive started by new FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe had led to improvements in food safety and hygiene across restaurants, which have a continuous duty to maintain the prescribed standards of hygiene and sanitation and any serious deviation from such standards warrants prompt regulatory intervention.The high court, disposing the petition, placed it for compliance on July 31.

Mumbai: The D B Marg police arrested a 26-year-old science graduate, S K Mandal, from West Bengal for allegedly preparing and selling APK files to fraudsters who used them to cheat gullible victims.“We have arrested Mandal from West Bengal. He is originally from Jharkhand. The Android Application Package (APK) files prepared by the accused were involved in crimes in the city and there are 512 complaints on helpline number 1930/ NCCRP against these files. Mandal used to sell APK files for Rs 15,000 each. We are examining his laptop and mobile phone,” said zonal DCP Ragasudha R.Mandal was arrested by the police which were probing a cyber cheating case of Rs 70,500 where the complainant was duped after she clicked a fake Mahanagar Gas Ltd APK file.Mandal allegedly sold 91 files to various cyber cheat gangs.There are 2,993 complaints registered against these APK files on the national cybercrime reporting portal (NCCRP). In these cases, around Rs 63.7 crore was siphoned off from victims’ accounts.Ragasudha said, “We have seized 10 mobile phones, one laptop, seven SIM cards, four credit/debit cards, 967 APK files and found the database of banking information of 37,200 individuals from the accused. During the probe, we found that 91 APK files created by the arrested accused were sold to other accused. Through these sold APK files, a total of 2,993 (including 512 in Maharashtra especially Mumbai), the general public were cheated of Rs 63.69 crore.” Police said that had the accused sold all his files, the fraudsters could have cheated the public of hundreds of crores.Police said Mandal would sell the APK files through a social media channel. The buyers would contact him and he would develop and send the APK files as per their demand and receive money mostly in cash.The fraudsters, who contact a victim, generally send an APK file with different names of companies or institutions. They ask to update the electricity bill, gas connection and RTO challan, and threaten disconnection or action if not done. They send an APK file to the victim through WhatsApp. Once a victim opens an APK file and keys in some details, the fraudsters take control of their mobile phone and siphon off money from their account.

The ED probe found that Faisal Shaikh and his wife allegedly deposited cash generated from illegal activities into their personal bank accounts to project it as legitimate income.

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet against Faisal Javed Shaikh, his wife Alfiya Shaikh and 10 others in a money laundering case linked to a narcotics smuggling case involving Salim Dola.The ED investigation was based on an NCB case, which alleged that Faisal Shaikh, one of the main accused, purchased prohibited Mephedrone (MD) from Salim Dola.According to the ED, Faisal Shaikh and his wife, Alfiya Shaikh, allegedly established a well-organised network to sell MD. The agency alleged that they sold the drug to Samiya Khan, Nasir Yasin Khan and others, who in turn sold it to their customers.The ED investigation found that Faisal Javed Shaikh and Alfiya Shaikh allegedly deposited cash generated from illegal activities into their personal bank accounts to project it as legitimate income.The investigation also revealed that the accused allegedly used firms opened in their names and those of their associates to integrate the proceeds of crime. According to the ED, these firms did not have any actual or genuine business activities.The agency further alleged that the Shaikh couple handed over cash generated from drug sales to close associates, including Faizan Mohd Shafi Shaikh, who, through his proprietorship concern Faiz Impex, Mumbai, and other associates, allegedly routed the money through multiple bank accounts belonging to them and their associates, as well as through bank accounts of shell companies.The ED alleged that part of these funds was subsequently diverted back into the bank accounts of Alfiya Faisal Shaikh, Faisal Javed Shaikh, their family members and associates. The funds were later allegedly used to purchase immovable properties.The ED had earlier provisionally attached seven immovable properties, including flats, in Mumbai valued at Rs 5.88 crore. The agency also seized or froze cash worth Rs 42 lakh, 1.6 kg of jewellery valued at around Rs 1.76 crore, three second-hand luxury vehicles worth around Rs 56 lakh, and 12 bank accounts belonging to the accused.