MAPUSA
The Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) has stayed part occupancy granted to the controversial building ‘Prabhu Chambers’, which was recently restored by the Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC).
“The restoration of part occupancy certificate is contrary to the inspection report prepared by the Chief Officer on September 1, 2023,” said Gurudas Pilarnkar, DMA in his brief order, while granting interim relief to the petitioners (unit holders).
The next hearing on the matter has been fixed on September 14.
Four years ago, the MMC had revoked part occupancy issued to Prabhu Chambers at Angod, Mapusa pointing out to several discrepancies in the construction.
Subsequently, 43 unit holders of the building had approached the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and got relief through the RERA court.
The Principal District Court while executing the RERA order directed the MMC to inspect the site on September 1 and submit the compliance report.
The MMC team headed by Chief Officer Chandrakant Shetkar inspected the site and in the report submitted to the court on September 6 pointed out that M/s Prabhu Constructions had failed to rectify certain deficiencies such as grills were not provided for the windows, lifts were not functional, there was no permanent power supply and pumps were being used to drain out the water instead of rectifying the faults.
Surprisingly, the Chief Officer restored the part occupancy to the controversial building on September 7 without compliance of the discrepancies, contradicting his own report submitted to the court.
“The conduct of the chief officer in the matter is suspicious. We will soon file complaints and contempt of court petition against him,” said one of the decree holders.
