Minister gave govt funds to trust where he is a trustee: PIL

Mumbai, Jan 13 (PTI) The state government today soughttime from the Bombay High Court to file reply to a PIL seekingto recall an "illegal donation" given by state Water ResourcesMinister Sunil Tatkare to Raigad Military School Trust'' frombudgetary allocations.

The PIL, filed by an NGO, alleges that the donation wasillegal as the minister had no authority to allocate fundsfrom the state budget as he was a trustee of the same school.

The bench headed by Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud askedthe state and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to file theirreplies within a month, adjourning the hearing to February 17.

The Minister, without any rights, powers or authority,had illegally donated Rs 2 crore from the state governmentcoffers to an unaided private school in suburban Oshiwara, runby Raigad trust, where he himself is a trustee, NGO LokAdhikar has alleged in PIL.

The petition prays that the Trust be dissolved and acommittee headed by retired judge of the High Court be formedto probe the alleged irregularities.

Further, the PIL alleges, 1999-2000, the 11,000 squaremetres plot, on which the school stands, was first allotted toRaj Purohit Trust, but later a cabinet sub-committee granted60 per cent of the land to Raigad Military Trust school at a50 per cent discounted price of Rs 74.82 lakh.

Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority(MHADA) had no authority to allot this land to Raigad MilitaryTrust, it says.