Corrupt DDA Bureaucrats Allow Illegal Construction in Housing Societies. Case: DPS CGHS

Corrupt DDA Bureaucrats Allow Illegal Construction in Housing Societies. Case: DPS CGHS

With the help of a case study of DPS Housing Society, this report reveals pervasive corruption in illegal construction that DDA is allowing in Delhi’s cooperative group housing societies.

Case: DPS Cooperative Group Housing Society (DPS CGHS or DPS Housing Society), Plot No. 16, Sector 4, Dwarka, New Delhi 110 078

September 11, 2018

“Corruption robs schools, hospitals, and others of vitally needed funds. It rots institutions, as public officials enrich themselves or turn a blind eye to criminality. It deprives people of their rights, drives away foreign investment, and despoils the environment,” says UN Secretary General António Guterres.

You can click here to read the full statement of Mr. António Guterres.

By Rakesh Raman

Complaint Against:

• Udai Pratap Singh, Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) – who has failed to stop corruption at DDA and other DDA officials who are allowing avoidable construction in occupied group housing societies of Delhi

• DPS CGHS managing committee (MC) members – who are facing multiple corruption inquiries – and their accomplices

• Jayadev Sarangi, Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) – who has failed to dismiss DPS CGHS MC and complete the already ordered corruption inquiry against it

Case Overview

• As the administrative systems in Delhi have completely collapsed, millions of residents are victims of frauds being committed by the corrupt management committee (MC) members of different cooperative group housing societies in connivance with bureaucrats and politicians.

• While DDA is among the most corrupt departments of Delhi – and perhaps India – the DDA bureaucrats have formed a criminal gang with corrupt MC members of housing societies and dishonest builders to harass and loot the innocent citizens.

• The DDA corruption is being explained with a case study of DPS Cooperative Group Housing Society (DPS CGHS) where the corrupt MC members subtly claim that they have bribed the DDA officials to take approvals for an illegal construction project under the dubious floor area ratio (FAR) scheme.

• The FAR construction in the DPS CGHS building where people are living will spread massive dust and noise pollution which will harm children, men, women, including senior citizens.

• As the total corruption money in FAR construction activity is estimated to be thousands of crores of rupees, the corrupt DDA officials are blatantly breaking many laws to give approval for illegal FAR projects in different housing societies of Delhi.

• The corrupt DDA officials are giving approvals for FAR construction in occupied group housing societies even when the Delhi High Court has stopped FAR construction.

• The polluted FAR construction in inhabited housing complexes – where people are living – is being compared to the poisonous gas chambers used by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust for the genocide of millions of European Jews.

Important: This report also includes 14 different exhibits (given at the bottom of this report) from official / government records which clearly show that the FAR construction approval given by DDA to corrupt DPS CGHS members is totally illegal and extreme corruption has been happening at DPS CGHS.

The current DPS CGHS MC members who need to be immediately interrogated by the police, anti-corruption departments, and other law-enforcement agencies are:

President: Neeraj Kumar Vaish
Vice President: R. Balasubramanian
Secretary: M.N. Sampathkumar
Member: Ms. Leela Swami
Member: Sandeep Taneja
Member: Manguram Tyagi
Member: Ms. Naseem Afshaque

Highlights of the Case

• As a journalist and social activist, I have been running major campaigns to stop FAR construction and pollution in Delhi because it will harm millions of people including men, women, and children.

• While I have been supporting the people who oppose FAR construction in different housing societies, I approached DDA with an RTI application to get the list of societies for which FAR extension proposals have been received, approved, and rejected by the DDA. But DDA did not give me the list.

• As DDA is running a corruption racket in connivance with corrupt MC members of housing societies, I complained to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) which directed the Vigilance department of DDA to investigate the cases of corruption by DDA officials. DDA has not informed me about the progress of the investigation.

• I have also urged the CVC to start a corruption inquiry against DDA Vice Chairman Udai Pratap Singh who has completely failed to stop corruption at DDA.

• Similarly, LG Anil Baijal who is also the Chairman of DDA has completely failed to stop corruption at DDA and the RCS office while I regularly send multiple cases of corruption and illegal activities in housing societies to LG office.

• I had also asked DDA that it should not give FAR construction approval to DPS CGHS because the MC members of DPS CGHS are facing multiple corruption inquiries and they have planned FAR construction project in a totally fraudulent way.

• But the DPS CGHS MC members informed in August 2018 that DDA (with its letter dated 14.08.2018) has given them approval for FAR extension work. The estimated project cost is Rs. 15 crore for which the MC members are coercing each member to pay them lakhs of rupees.

• Later, the Office of the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of DDA in its letter dated 27.08.2018 informed me that the CVO Office has cautioned the the Commissioner (LD) and Deputy Vigilance Officer-IV about the corruption case of DPS CGHS and violation of FAR in construction activities. [ Exhibit 1 ]

• In another letter dated 27.08.2018 (Subject: Corruption Case of DPS CGHS, Dwarka) the Group Housing Society branch of DDA informed me that it has asked the Deputy Director (Building) and the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) office to take action in this case. [ Exhibit 2 ]

• In another letter dated 31.08.2018, the Planning Department of DDA informed me that it has notified the Director (Building) of DDA about the FAR construction at DPS CGHS and the CVC orders with the direction to review the approval given to DPS CGHS. [ Exhibit 3 ]

• The DPS CGHS MC is facing serious corruption inquiries and a case of its supersession (termination) under Section 37 of DCS Act, 2003 is underway at the RCS office of Delhi Government. [ Exhibit 4 ]

• On September 6, 2018, Kulvendra Yadav, Asstt. Registrar in the RCS office, informed me that the RCS office has issued a show cause notice to the DPS CGHS for non compliance of direction issued by the RCS office under Section 37 (1) of DCS Act, 2003 vide No. 3562-66 dated 08.02.2018. But the accused DPS CGHS MC members are blatantly defying the RCS office orders.

• With all the information available to DDA about the extreme corruption at DPS CGHS, DDA must immediately cancel the FAR / extension approval given to DPS CGHS. If DDA did not cancel the approval given to DPS CGHS, it will prove DDA officials’ participation in the crime which is aimed to extort and swindle public money.

FAR Corruption Case of DPS CGHS

The repair / construction work is being planned by the MC of DPS CGHS in a totally corrupt manner under the ambiguous FAR (floor area ratio) building extension policy. The proposed FAR extension / repair project that the MC is pursuing is worth crores of rupees and it will continue for many years in the inhabited Society building.

It will give the MC members (and external parties such as builders, architect firms, suppliers, etc.) another opportunity to embezzle public money, as the MC members are forcing each flat owner to pay lakhs of rupees for building extension / repairs without following any statutory financial and procurement procedures.

The planned FAR construction will also damage the environment, as it will spread lethal dust and noise pollution which will harm the health of children, men, and women, including senior citizens living in the building. There are many members in the DPS CGHS who are not in favor of FAR construction because of financial and pollution factors. The massive construction work in the occupied housing society also poses accident risks mainly to children and senior citizens.

Besides other members who are opposing FAR extension, some senior citizens have formally complained that FAR construction will be harmful for them, as it will spread enormous cement-dust and noise pollution. But the cruel DPS CGHS MC members ignored senior citizens’ screams. [ Exhibit 5 ]

Although the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 – initiated by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India – is supposed to provide “simple, speedy and inexpensive mechanism for the protection of life and property of the older persons,” it is a completely ineffective piece of legislation. This is evident from the example of DPS CGHS where pollution will harm and virtually kill the senior citizens.

The senior citizens say they have been running from pillar to post to get extended construction stopped, but the authorities have refused to listen to them.

The accused DPS CGHS MC members (who are facing multiple corruption inquiries and recently lost at least 2 legal cases in which they were involved) and their accomplices are trying to carry out this high-value FAR construction project by hook or by crook.

They have colluded with DDA to take approvals for the illegal FAR construction in the occupied building where people are living. The other residents of Dwarka also allege that the DDA officials are involved in corrupt practices and giving approvals for illegal FAR-based construction projects.

There is a major flaw in the DDA’s FAR approval process. It is giving approvals based on the assumption that the Society which is seeking FAR approval will not break any other law. DDA says if the Society broke any other law, it will penalize the MC of the Society and demolish the construction.

But this is the height of stupidity, as DDA is first giving an opportunity to the Society to break the law and then it will penalize it. It is like saying that the potential murderers are being given a license to kill, but if they kill others, they will be penalized.

Fraudulent Appointment of Architect Firm

In order to start the illegal FAR construction, the immediate past and present MC members of DPS CGHS have committed many felonious acts such as ambiguous advertisement and faulty tendering process in the appointment of the architect firm.

While the total project cost is an estimated Rs. 15 crore, the DPS CGHS MC has arbitrarily hired the architect firm Vivek & Arti Architects. The advertisement / tendering process for hiring the firm was flawed and the details including quotations of competing firms were not circulated among all the Society members to take their approvals before hiring the architect firm.

As per MC’s letter dated March 5, 2017, the MC had assigned work to Vivek & Arti Architects – even before the architect hiring process began with a misleading advertisement in April 2017. [ Exhibit 6 ]

The MC did not even mention the Society name, address, and scope of work in the said advertisement and only a private phone number was given for contact. The advertisement was part of a perfunctory exercise aimed to deceive the authorities as well as the Society members while the MC had already decided to hire Vivek & Arti Architects. The MC signed the contract with Vivek & Arti Architects even later in July 2017.

Subsequently, in its letter dated August 2, 2017, the MC informed the residents that M/s Vivek & Arti has been appointed as architect to submit design with regard to strengthening, replacement of external sewerage fittings, repair and extension of the Society’s building structure.

The MC has given the details of the firm as: Vivek Malhotra, Architect, COA No: CA/89/12072, Registered Valuer: Cat-I/478/127/2003-2004 of B-3/55, Janakpuri, New Delhi: 110 058 with contact 9654787858.

In its earlier letter dated March 5, 2017 before releasing the advertisement for the appointment of architect firm, the MC had stated that M/s Vivek & Arti Architects and Spline Engineers & Consultant Pvt Ltd. carried out extensive / intensive audit of structures / flats and had submitted their final investigation report.

How can Vivek & Arti Architects carry out work before March 2017, when the advertisement to hire the firm was released later in April 2017?

While the exact role of Spline Engineers & Consultant Pvt Ltd. is not yet clear, it is certain that the MC of DPS CGHS has appointed M/s Vivek & Arti Architects fraudulently without giving the opportunity to other firms to compete in the tendering process.

As the MC is known for its corrupt practices, it got its decision approved in the bogus General Body Meetings (GBMs) of the Society. The corrupt MC members bribe the voting members to get their decisions approved. It is a case of total fraud.

The residents / members of DPS CGHS have formally expressed apprehensions about the illegitimate appointment of M/s Vivek & Arti Architects and its possible connivance with the MC of the Society with the aim to loot public money in the planned construction project. The MC could not explain the reason for appointing the architect firm Vivek & Arti Architects in a fraudulent manner.

As per the contract document dated July 16, 2017, the MC President Neeraj Vaish even agreed to pay a huge Rs. 8 lakh as “liasioning fee” to this architect firm for getting approvals from DDA and other authorities. [ Exhibit 7 ]

One fails to understand if the MC’s project proposals / drawings are genuine and legal, why it is paying Rs. 8 lakh as liasioning fee for getting the statutory approvals. In the underworld, the term “liasioning fee” is used for bribes.

In all probability the architect firm – which has become a partner in DPS CGHS MC’s crimes – has paid this money as bribes to DDA officials and others to get approvals illegally because the MC’s proposals / drawings for the proposed construction project violate many regulations and laws.

Clearly, the accused DPS CGHS MC members are cheating people in order to loot their money for the illegal construction project. While DDA has approved such a fraudulent construction plan of DPS CGHS, the DDA officials will be hauled up for complicity and connivance in crime.

Fraud in Construction Cost Calculation

While DPS CGHS MC never informed about the method to calculate the cost of repairs / FAR construction, it started demanding Rs. 4 lakh to Rs. 9 lakh from each flat owner (total 90 flats in Society) with the indication that the cost will escalate.

Moreover, the MC could not explain how it can calculate the cost when its drawings / proposal were not even approved by the DDA and other departments. While the MC started demanding money from residents before getting approvals, clearly the intention of MC members is to cheat the residents / consumers.

As the MC initially demanded Rs. 4 lakh and Rs. 9 lakh for just building repairs and FAR extension respectively, later each member will be forced to pay much higher amount for repairs and FAR extension, as the MC has already warned that these costs will escalate. The MC also threntens members that it will arbitrarily impose 18% interest on defaulters.

The DPS CGHS MC is committing this gross fraud with the help of the fraudulently appointed architect firm while the cost of construction is much lower.

Today, the average cost of construction per sq. ft. in Delhi is around Rs. 1200 (you can search it on the Internet). Suppose, the MC is taking Rs. 10 lakh from each member, it should give an extended construction area of more than 800 sq. ft. to each member – which is like building an almost new flat.

If the MC is giving just 200 sq. ft. additional constructed area under FAR scheme, it cannot charge more than Rs. 2.50 lakh (Rupees Two Lakh Fifty Thousand Only) from each member. The cost of repairs will be much lower – just a few thousand rupees for each member. The corrupt DPS CGHS MC members are clearly looting the members most of whom are uneducated or ignorant.

The members / residents are advised and warned that they should not give any money to DPS CGHS MC members for FAR construction or repair because the MC members are cheating them and FAR construction is a totally illegal work for which the members should not give money. Also, the members / residents who have already given money to DPS CGHS MC members for FAR construction or repair should take their money back.

Let alone the additional FAR construction, the MC members in the current MC are not supposed to handle even repairs because they embezzled huge money in a previous repairs work for which they are facing a CVC-directed corruption inquiry. [ Exhibit 8 ]

Covering seven probe areas, the inquiry seeks explanation from the earlier MC members – including R. Balasubramanian, K.V. Varghese, Neeraj Kumar Vaish, Sandeep Taneja, Leela Swami, Manjit Kaur, and Gaurav Kumar Sood – about the money spent in building repairs, excess money spent on procuring water for residents, underhand dealings in allowing illegal car parking, and the financial processes followed in spending the public money. But the accused MC members colluded with RCS officials and probably bribed them to get the inquiry delayed.

It is important to mention here that four accused MC members – R. Balasubramanian, Neeraj Kumar Vaish, Sandeep Taneja, and Leela Swami – are even in the current MC that is pursuing the building extension / repairs project.

In the last building repairs work, M/s Shivaji Bhera who offered to do the repair work for just Rs. 4 lakh was removed by the accused MC members to hire a firm M/s SP Repcon of Mr. Satpal Sharma who was awarded the same repair contract for more than Rs. 30 lakh. [ Exhibit 9 ]

Although the repair work is not complete even today (after almost 10 years), the contractor was paid the money by the then DPS CGHS MC (those MC members are again leading the repairs / FAR construction even now). These MC members are facing the corruption inquiry. The Directorate of Vigilance (DOV) of Delhi Government – under CVC’s direction – had ordered the inquiry through the RCS office against the MC of DPS CGHS. In this particular repairs case, the estimated corruption money as on date is over Rs. 1 crore that needs to be recovered from the MC members.

CVC Inquiry Letter References:

RCS: F.47/Coop./1350/GH/SW/2011/7051 dated 4.5.2011
Directorate of Vigilance: F.27/2/2011/DOV/1080 dated 15.2.2011 forwarded by CVC
CVC: O.M. No. 1716/10/8/104428 dated 01.10.2010 and O.M. No. 1716/10/8/117161 dated 24.01.2011

Corruption Investigations

While the DPS CGHS MC members and DDA officials had joined hands in the illegal FAR construction activity, I complained to CVC. After studying the case that I had sent, the CVC took cognizance of the matter and directed the Vigilance department of DDA to investigate it further. As a result, DDA informed me that it has planned to take action in this case. [ Exhibit 10 ]

However, the carelessness of DDA is evident from the fact that while the investigation is underway, its corrupt officials approved the dubious FAR project in August 2018 of DPS CGHS which is also under multiple corruption investigations.

According to DPS CGHS MC, the grant of sanction dated 14 August, 2018 has come from Sanjeev Kumar (Assistant Engineer, Organization: Personal, Date 17-Aug-2018 for Vice Chairman DDA) and its plan is sanctioned U/S 12 of the Delhi Development Act 1957 for application number DW4/0109/17-18.

It appears that at DDA the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. When the Vice Chairman and the top officials of the Building Department of DDA have been repeatedly informed by me and other authorities about the corruption at DDA and DPS CGHS, how can a Sanjeev Kumar of DDA sanction the plans of DPS CGHS?

The MC members of DPS CGHS are facing multiple inquiries ordered by CVC, DOV, RCS for financial frauds and other irregularities. These MC members have already embezzled an estimated Rs. 20 crore and recently lost 2 legal cases – one at the labour court for labour rights violations and another at RCS office about my expulsion.

Now, they are trying to get the other corruption inquiries stopped by hook or by crook and possibly by bribing the RCS officials who are not dismissing the MC of DPS CGHS, despite a supersession (termination) case to dismiss the MC under Section 37 of DCS Act, 2003.

The DPS CGHS MC members subtly claimed that they will bribe the DDA officials to get approvals for FAR construction. As DDA officials were presumably bribed, they ignored the corruption record of DPS CGHS MC members and approved their FAR project, allowing them to collect about Rs. 15 crore from the Society members.

However, the Office of the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of DDA in its letter dated 27.08.2018 informed me that the CVO Office has cautioned the DDA Commissioner (LD) and Deputy Vigilance Officer-IV about the corruption case of DPS CGHS and violation of FAR in construction activities. [ Exhibit 1 ]

The CVO Office letter of DDA further asked the Group Housing Branch and Building Department to thoroughly examine the DPS CGHS case related to FAR approval and inform about the factual status within 10 days (around the first week of September 2018).

While it is a good step taken by the CVO Office of DDA, the concerned DDA departments must cancel the FAR approval given to DPS CGHS within 10 days because I have already given the documents related to DPS CGHS corruption and the CVC has also directed the DDA to hold the inquiry in this case.

In another letter dated 27.08.2018 (Subject: Corruption Case of DPS CGHS, Dwarka) the Group Housing Society branch of DDA informed me that it has asked the Deputy Director (Building) and the RCS office to take action in this case. [ Exhibit 2 ]

Accordingly, the RCS office is advised to immediately dismiss the MC of DPS CGHS and start the corruption inquiry it has already ordered against the MC members. [ Exhibit 4 ]

Meanwhile, with its letter dated 19.6.2018, the Directorate of Vigilance (DOV) – which is the top department that conducts inquiries in corruption cases – of Delhi Government has informed me that it has planned to start the inquiry against former Registrar J.B. Singh (IAS) and other officials of RCS office regarding corruption (in DPS CGHS case). [ Exhibit 11 ]

Also, in a letter dated 31.08.2018, the Planning Department of DDA informed me that it has notified the Director (Building) of DDA about the FAR construction at DPS CGHS and the CVC orders with the direction to review the approval given to DPS CGHS. [ Exhibit 3 ]

The DPS CGHS MC claims that it has also received approvals for FAR construction from Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) and Delhi Fire Service (DFS) – which are also among the most corrupt departments.

How can DUAC and DFS give approvals to MC members who are under corruption inquiries and what inspection did they do before giving the approvals? It is a pervasive criminal enterprise that all these government departments are running in connivance with the corrupt MC members.

If the concerned DDA officials did not cancel the FAR approval of DPS CGHS immediately, it will prove their complicity in crime for which they will face legal consequences.

As this is a case of white-collar crime, only the circumstantial evidence in terms of non-compliance of different statutes should be enough to prosecute and arrest the culprits at different departments including DDA and DPS CGHS, as well as their accomplices such as the fraudulent architect firms and residents / members who are paying money for this illegal FAR construction at DPS CGHS.

According to the Vigilance Manual 2017 of India’s top anti-corruption organization Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), “corruption is manifested in various forms such as bribery, nepotism, willful action or willful inaction to benefit someone or to deny benefit to someone known or unknown.”

It also states that “corruption includes cases of favoritism and failure to follow laid down processes leading to unintended benefit to someone or denial of benefit to the deserving.”

Admission of Corruption at DPS CGHS

The DPS CGHS MC is facing serious corruption inquiries and a case of its supersession (termination of MC) under Section 37 of DCS Act, 2003 is underway at the RCS office of Delhi Government.

On September 6, 2018, Kulvendra Yadav, Asstt. Registrar in the RCS office, informed me that the RCS office has issued a show cause notice to the DPS CGHS for non compliance of direction issued by the RCS office under Section 37 (1) of DCS Act, 2003 vide No. 3562-66 dated 08.02.2018.

But the accused DPS CGHS MC members are blatantly defying the RCS office orders. In other words, Jayadev Sarangi (IAS), Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) and other RCS officials are allowing DPS CGHS MC members to continue their corruption.

On September 3, 2018, I sent a 45-page report (along with documents) about DPS CGHS corruption to Jayadev Sarangi and urged him to issue immediate stay / restraining order against the present DPS CGHS MC, prohibiting it from taking any decision and carrying out any work in the Society. I also asked him to declare the supersession of DPS CGHS MC before starting the pending inquiries against it.

While RCS is not terminating or even suspending the DPS CGHS MC, and rather allowing it to collect crores of rupees for more corruption, it appears that top RCS officials have been bribed by the DPS CGHS MC members to delay or stop the corruption inquiries.

As rampant corruption is happening at the RCS office, the Committee on Petitions of Delhi Legislative Assembly had called a meeting on 30.08.2018 to discuss the ongoing irregularities at the RCS office. The Committee can even recommend jail term for corrupt officials of RCS office who protect corrupt MC members. Similarly, the corrupt MC members can also be jailed.

Recently, Nitin Gupta – who runs a law firm Nitin Gupta & Associates (Advocates & Solicitors at Law) in Delhi – has also urged the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly to take concrete steps to weed out corruption from the RCS office of Delhi Government.

Nitin Gupta sent a detailed letter to Ram Niwas Goel, Speaker of the House Delhi Assembly, urging him to form a committee to investigate the large scale non-compliances and violations of the Delhi Cooperative Societies (DCS) Act 2003. He shared his letter with RMN News Service, which runs “Clean House” anti-corruption service that focuses on housing societies.

The RCS officials are so corrupt that they do not dismiss the MC and remove MC members even when the MC admits that it has been involved in corruption and other illegal activities.

The DPS CGHS MC has admitted in a letter dated February 28, 2018 sent to RCS office that a former DPS CGHS President M.M. Shukla (who had resigned under mysterious circumstances before completing the term) has knowledge of extreme corruption in the Society as he has been circulating dozens of documents (in the form of a book) related to misappropriation of Society funds. If the new MC has not taken any legal action against the corrupt previous MCs and the corruption money is not recovered, it shows the current MC’s complicity in crime.

Now, the obvious question is that if corruption is happening so openly in DPS CGHS, why are the culprits not being caught and punished? The police and law-enforcement agencies must take Shukla into custody and interrogate him for his knowledge of corruption in the Society in order to catch the other internal and external culprits.

Surprisingly, the accused MC members – who are facing corruption charges – are again coercing each flat owner to pay them over Rs. 2 lakh as the first instalment for the illegal FAR construction / repair project worth crores of rupees.

According to MC letter dated 24.08.2018, the MC has paid a building permit fee of Rs. 140,812 to DDA and another Rs. 28,97,916 for all the 90 flats in the DPS CGHS building.

This shows the open fraud of DPS CGHS MC members. When all the 90 members have not given their explicit consent for FAR extension / repair, how can they deposit money for all the members? The DDA is also complicit in this crime because DDA accepted the money for 90 flats without checking the consent of all the 90 Society members.

In the said letter dated 24.08.2018, the DPS CGHS MC members also claim that they had submitted plans (duly approved by the members) to DDA for approval. However, it failed to disclose the names of the members who had approved those plans and what competence they have to approve construction plans.

Any plan that involves crores of rupees must be explicitly approved by each and every member of the Society before implementing it. The MC cannot impose financial burden in a dictatorial manner on each Society member without each member’s explicit consent.

In order to deceive the authorities and Society members whose money is being looted by the DPS CGHS MC, the secretary M.N. Sampathkumar – who is an accused in this case – circulated a letter dated 24.08.2018 in which he informed about the formation of some perfunctory sub-committees to carry out the illegal construction work in the Society.

According to the said letter, the names of members in different sub-committees are M.M. Shukla, Anil Taneja, Dilip Rozekar, Madhukar Akhilesh, Lal Singh Thakur, Kaloria, C.B. Swami, Vikash Prasad, K.L. Narayanan, S.K.Kalani, Neelam Singh, Ravinder Sharma, Anil Sharma, Vinu Dua, Dr. Alok Varshney, Dr. Bilalla, and K. Randhawa.

While these members know that the DPS CGHS MC which has formed these sub-committees is facing corruption inquiries and losing legal cases for their financial and other regularities, they decided to join hands with it for committing more irregularities in the Society. All these sub-committee members will also face prosecution and legal consequences, as the entire case is soon expected to go to higher courts.

Since the RCS officials are conniving with the accused DPS CGHS MC members and not terminating or suspending the MC, it is learnt that the suffering members of the Society have decided to go to the higher courts in order to seek justice.

Meanwhile, RMN News Service has learnt that the chaotic situation at DPS CGHS has led to displacement of people as the flat owners are selling their flats in distress and tenants are leaving the Society.

While FAR construction is illegal, the members who pay money to DPS CGHS MC will be participating in MC’s fraud, and those members will also face prosecution and possible imprisonment for abetment to crime.

Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 107, “a person becomes liable as an abettor if he/she instigates another to commit a crime, or engages in a conspiracy with another to commit a crime and some act is done in furtherance of such conspiracy or if he/she intentionally aids another in order to facilitate the commission of a crime.”

Therefore, the members / residents are advised that they should not become abettors by giving any money to DPS CGHS MC members for FAR construction or repair because it is an illegal project. Also, the members / residents who have already given money to DPS CGHS MC members for FAR construction or repair should take their money back.

When the FAR construction will be stopped before completion as it is happening under court order, the members will lose their money and they will also have to pay for demolition of the illegal construction, besides other legal penalties.

Under partial construction, the DPS CGHS building will have an ugly appearance and it will become a disputed property. Then it will be extremely difficult for flat owners to sell their flats. Even tenants will not be interested to live in such a ruined building.

DDA Corruption in FAR Scheme

Although the government knows that FAR construction in occupied housing societies is not legal, the DDA officials are using the ambiguous FAR policy to make easy money from corrupt MC members and builders.

A government notification from the office of the Lt. Governor of Delhi states that “it has been decided in public interest that increased FAR should not be permitted in respect of already constructed and occupied cooperative group housing societies.” [ Exhibit 12 ]

Many corrupt MCs baselessly argue that it is an old rule, but the point is that this rule was made keeping in view the “public interest” because extended construction will be harmful to public in occupied housing complexes. Then how can the “public interest” factor suddenly change after a couple of years?

The government’s oblique permission to allow extended construction in the existing upmarket flats is not addressing any housing needs in the country where millions of people are still homeless.

People who prefer clean environment suggest that the government should only focus on addressing the housing needs of homeless poor by building new low-cost houses for them. The affluent people should not be allowed to expand their swanky flats because such an expansion will be risky for people living in the buildings.

The FAR construction is also illegal because it violates Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and breaks a number of other laws such as the Unified Building Bye Laws (UBBL), the Delhi Apartment Ownership Act, Delhi Fire Service Rules, National Building Code, and many other regulations.

Since Article 21 of the Indian Constitution is the fundamental right of every citizen, its violation is a crime even when the majority of members in a housing society opt for FAR construction. Therefore, the majority argument is invalid and meaningless in this case.

With these facts, people urge the Delhi Government and the Government of India to immediately issue clear instructions to stop the extended construction activity in occupied group housing societies of Delhi. Now it should be easy for the government to stop FAR construction because the Delhi High Court also has stopped FAR construction.

But the corrupt DDA officials are ignoring the court orders and they are hell-bent to allow FAR construction because it gives them a huge opportunity for corruption. They have gone so berserk that they have made a mockery of even the RTI (Right to Information) which is an Act of the Parliament of India. Under this Act, any citizen of India can seek information from a government department which is required to reply within 30 days.

In my RTI application, I had asked for the list of those occupied cooperative group housing societies for which FAR (floor area ratio) extension proposals have been received, approved, and rejected by the DDA during the years 2016 and 2017.

After many months, DDA informed me through a letter dated May 18, 2018 that it does not have any such list in its record. How can it be possible that DDA has not kept the record of proposals that have been submitted to it? It shows the crude and dishonest way in which DDA works. [ Exhibit 13 ]

FAR construction in occupied group housing societies is a big racket supported by DDA while the Delhi High Court has stopped FAR construction. Unfortunately, DDA is not responding positively to my repeated complaints and allowing FAR construction and pollution in occupied group housing societies because there is a huge opportunity for corruption.

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Corruption Case Study

If you want to know how corrupt MC members and builders in a housing society commit various crimes and circumvent the law because of Delhi government’s weakness in stopping crime and corruption, you can study the case of Bhagwati CGHS in Dwarka.

Click here to study the Bhagwati CGHS case.

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Since DDA was not willing to stop FAR construction despite its lethality, I approached the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) – which is supposed to check corruption in government departments – with the request to investigate the role of concerned DDA officials in FAR projects. Now, the CVC has directed DDA to hold an inquiry.

As corruption is increasing at DDA, reports suggest that DDA has planned to fix responsibility on its officials in cases of illegal construction activities and violation of the master plan and building bye-laws in Delhi.

In this regard, recently DDA placed an action plan before the Supreme Court of India. Attorney General K. K. Venugopal, who appeared for DDA, told the bench that rampant corruption is happening in DDA and stringent measures need to be taken to stop this corruption.

In its action plan, DDA has stated that it intends to check all ongoing and future unauthorized constructions in the city under the supervision of a Special Task Force (STF) which has been constituted following an apex court order.

Moreover, with an emphasis on preventive vigilance, CVC is developing an Integrity Index for critical organizations. Initially 25 organizations have been selected for the development of the Index. Obviously, because of its corruption, DDA is among these organizations.

As all this rampant corruption is happening right under the nose of DDA Vice Chairman Udai Pratap Singh, the possibility of his involvement in crime and corruption cannot be ruled out.

Attempts of DPS CGHS MC Members to Attack and Harm Me

• In order to thwart my anti-corruption efforts, during the past couple of years the DPS CGHS MC members have sent multiple threats to me. These include false police complaints against me, threats of physical harm to me, expulsion notices, legal notices, and slanderous attacks on my social as well as professional status.

• Ironically, the current DPS CGHS MC members – whose names appear as accused in a number of government records like history-sheeters – have sent me a number of legal notices claiming that I have defamed them. This is the height of absurdity and their action is laughable. Instead of facing the government inquiries honestly and getting their names cleared from government records, they are trying to threaten me with legal notices saying that I should stop writing about their corruption in my news articles.

• The DPS CGHS MC members are behaving like ganglords who are using the frivolous legal notices and false police complaints against me as threat weapons to silence me and suppress my voice. They are also hatching criminal conspiracy along with a few other residents of the Society to harm and defame me.

• I am not deterred and I will keep fighting truthfully against their crimes and corruption to get the culprits arrested and imprisoned. In fact, during the last about one year, the criminal MC members of DPS CGHS have lost at least two legal cases that I have been pursuing against them.

• For example, the criminal DPS CGHS MC members lost a legal case against me at RCS office / court to get me expelled from the Society. The MC members had filed the case to attack my freedom of expression and press freedom as I have been exposing their corruption through my news articles. They could not get me expelled from the Society and lost the case at RCS court, although they claimed that the majority of members had supported my expulsion. The “majority” argument of DPS CGHS MC members is an absolute nonsense, as majority cannot circumvent any law. Also, the majority of members at DPS CGHS are accomplices in the crimes that MC is committing. And falsehood needs majority, truth can stand alone.

• Their loss of case at the RCS court also proves the fact that my campaign against the corruption of DPS CGHS MC members is right and valid, as corruption has been happening at DPS CGHS. While the MC members have lost the case, they need to compensate me for the mental, physical, and financial disturbance that they deliberately inflicted upon me.

• Similarly, the MC members lost a case of labour rights violation in the labour court that I was pursuing to get justice for the poor security guards / employees of the Society who were illegally terminated by the cruel DPS CGHS MC members. This again proves the fact that DPS CGHS MC members have been committing all sorts of illegal activities.

• Although the outcome of corruption cases that I have filed against the DPS CGHS MC members is getting delayed, they are soon expected to be arrested and jailed as they have lost the other cases stated above. The DPS CGHS MC members are digging their own graves by continuing their illegal activities. The members / residents who are supporting the MC members will also face legal consequences.

• The DPS CGHS MC letter dated July 7, 2018 regarding AGM on 29.7.2018 shows that the MC members are hatching a criminal conspiracy against me with the support of other members. The current MC members claim that a former MC member (Mr. Kaul) has told them that I have “wrongly used his signatures.” As this is a case of criminal conspiracy against me by the MC members and a former MC member, the case needs to be fully investigated. [ Exhibit 14 ]

• As I have been fighting against the corruption of DPS CGHS MC members and they have been defaming me and attacking my press freedom, it has adversely affected my other professional responsibilities including the editorial work and the social services that I offer to underprivileged people through my charity organization RMN Foundation. For this continuing loss to me, I am claiming Rs. 10 crore (Ten crore rupees) as compensatory damages / punitive damages from the DPS CGHS MC members who are personally responsible for this crime. I will soon take this case to the right forums.

Case Objectives

1. To get an immediate stay / restraining order from the RCS office against the present DPS CGHS managing committee (MC), prohibiting it from taking any decision and carrying out any work in the Society.
2. To get the FAR construction approval given to DPS CGHS canceled by DDA.
3. To get the present DPS CGHS MC dismissed through the RCS office. A government administrator should be appointed to manage the day-to-day affairs of the Society.
4. To get a government inspector appointed through RCS office for investigating the past and ongoing corrupt practices by the successive MCs of the Society. This should also include a Special Audit of Society’s accounts right from the inception of the Society. The inquiry should arrest the culprits and recover the money lost in corruption.
5. As they are refusing to reveal the details of financial misappropriation, the RCS office must recommend for the judicial / police custody of the MC members of DPS CGHS and others who are supporting them.
6. To get the prosecution started and charges framed against the guilty MC members (past and present) and their internal and external accomplices under Prevention of Corruption Act, Consumer Protection Act, Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, and other legislations which are aimed to reduce corruption and increase transparency and accountability.
7. To get the criminal MC members (past and present) and their supporters expelled from the Society as they pose a serious threat to the cooperative living and peace in the Society.
8. To investigate if there are cases of “assets disproportionate” to their known sources of income since the present and past MC members have been controlling public money worth crores of rupees. The investigation must also extend to the close relatives and / or inheritors of the present and past MC members.
9. To get the list of DPS CGHS members who have recently paid Rs. 2 lakh or more to MC for the illegal FAR construction / repairs project so that their money could be forfeited and deposited in Society funds. These members should also be treated as co-conspirators who must face charges of abetment to crime.
10. To get the investigation extended to other gang members at DPS CGHS. Their names and flat numbers are given in the attached document. The police and law-enforcement agencies must question their roles in the racket being run by the MCs of DPS CGHS.
11. To get an inquiry instituted against the government officials who have failed to take any action in the DPS CGHS case despite repeated complaints from the suffering residents / members and multiple directions from the higher authorities.
12. To get an inquiry instituted against the government officials (including former Registrar at RCS office J.B.Singh and the new Registrar Jayadev Sarangi) in departments such as RCS and DDA who help the MC of DPS CGHS, as it is a case of complicity or connivance in crime.
13. To get an inquiry instituted against DDA Vice Chairman Udai Pratap Singh who has failed to stop corruption at DDA.
14. As stated above, the DPS CGHS MC members – who have been threatening and defaming me – must compensate me with Rs. 10 crore (Ten crore rupees) as compensatory / punitive damages that I am formally claiming now.

Note: If it is beyond the powers of the RCS office to frame certain charges against the present and past MC members, their relatives, and / or others involved in the crimes, the RCS office should send these cases with its observations to police and other competent law-enforcement agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The RCS office should also put this entire DPS CGHS case (including documents, details, and future proceedings) on its website so that other housing societies could learn from this horrific case.

You can click the following weblink to study the details of corruption and illegal activities at DPS CGHS.

[ Humanitarian Crisis Persists at DPS Housing Society in Delhi ]

Weblink: http://www.ramanmedianetwork.com/humanitarian-crisis-persists-at-dps-housing-society-in-delhi/

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.

About Rakesh Raman

Rakesh Raman is a government’s national award-winning journalist and social activist. Besides working at senior editorial positions with India’s leading media companies, he had been writing an edit-page column for The Financial Express, a business newspaper of the Indian Express group.

Nowadays, for the past over 7 years, he has been running his own global news services on different subjects. He also has formed an environment-protection group called Green Group in Delhi. He has created a comprehensive online information service to educate the Indian voters for the upcoming Lok Sabha election scheduled to happen in 2019.

He is running a community-driven free online social service under the banner “Clean House” to help the suffering residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in group housing societies where millions of people live. Recently, he has released a comprehensive research report on corruption in India.

He has formed a free Education and Career Counselling Center for deserving children at a poor J.J. Colony in Dwarka, New Delhi under his NGO – RMN Foundation.

Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development.

Contact

Rakesh Raman
463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4
Dwarka, Phase I, New Delhi 110 078, INDIA
You may please contact me on my email.

Here are the 14 different exhibits from official / government records which clearly show that the FAR construction approval given by DDA to corrupt DPS CGHS members is totally illegal and extreme corruption has been happening at DPS CGHS.

Exhibit 1: CVO Office of DDA has cautioned the the Commissioner (LD) and Deputy Vigilance Officer-IV about the corruption case of DPS CGHS.

Exhibit 2: The Group Housing Society branch of DDA informed me that it has asked the Deputy Director (Building) and the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) office to take action in this case.

Exhibit 3: The Planning Department of DDA informed me that it has notified the Director (Building) of DDA about the FAR construction at DPS CGHS and the CVC orders.

Exhibit 4: Inquiry ordered by RCS office to investigate financial and other irregularities committed by the MC of DPS CGHS. Suddenly, RCS office scuttles the inquiry without giving any reason.

Exhibit 5: Senior citizens of DPS CGHS requested to save them from dust and noise pollution of FAR construction. But their requests are being ignored.

Exhibit 6: Misleading ad released by the DPS CGHS MC for an illegal FAR construction project. This is an economic offence to extort public money for an illegal activity.

Exhibit 7: Contract document signed by the DPS CGHS President Neeraj Vaish to pay Rs. 8 lakh as “liasioning fee” to the architect firm. Liasioning fee is another name for bribe to get approvals for illegal construction.

Exhibit 8: Under directions from CVC and Directorate of Vigilance, the RCS office orders an inquiry in 7 different areas of corruption at DPS CGHS. Inquiry is still pending.

Exhibit 9: An example of corruption when the DPS CGHS MC decided to pay over Rs. 23 lakh (the cost finally went over Rs. 30 lakh) for a work that a vendor offered to do for just Rs. 4 lakh.

Exhibit 10: DDA letter informing me that it is ready to hold inquiry into the corruption of its officials in FAR projects under CVC’s directions.

Exhibit 11: Letter from Directorate of Vigilance (DOV) of Delhi Government informing me that it has planned to start the inquiry against Mr. J.B. Singh, IAS and other officials of RCS office regarding corruption in DPS CGHS case.

Exhibit 12: A notification from the office of the Lt. Governor of Delhi states that increased FAR is not permitted in already constructed and occupied cooperative group housing societies.

Exhibit 13: DDA responds to RTI saying that DDA has not kept the record of FAR proposals that have been submitted to it. It is a clear case of dereliction of duty by DDA officials.

Exhibit 14: The DPS CGHS MC letter dated July 7, 2018 regarding AGM on 29.7.2018 shows that the MC members are hatching a criminal conspiracy against me with the support of other members. This case of conspiracy needs to be fully investigated.

Note: There are many other documents that show extreme corruption and lawlessness at DPS CGHS.

Disclosure: I have written this report not only as a journalist, but also as a victim of the fraud and intimidation happening at DPS CGHS. I am facing repeated threats from the MC members and their supporters because I have been raising my voice against their corruption, lawlessness, environmental damage, and human rights violations.