HC asks govt to trace files of CM's housing quota by July 31

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday set July 31 as the deadline for Maharashtra government to trace `missing' files pertaining to allotment of flats from the Chief Minister's discretionary housing quota since 1982. If the files were still not found, the one-man inquiry committee can draw its own conclusion as to whether the allotments should be held illegal, said the division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and <g data-gr-id="12">Reveti</g> Mohite-<g data-gr-id="13">Dhere</g>. The HC was hearing a public interest litigation filed by former journalist Ketan Tirodkar, which alleges that non-eligible people got flats from the quota and some people got more than one flat. 

The government had earlier said that some of the files pertaining to allotments could not be found. In October 2014, the HC had appointed a one-man committee of retired judge J A Patil to probe the alleged irregularities in the allotment of flats from 1982 onwards. The bench on Tuesday directed the state government to extend the term of the committee to October 15.