JOIN USEmaar MGF, the firm that built multi-storey towers in the Commonwealth Games Village, was directed by the Delhi High Court on Monday to pay Rs 16.19 crore dues to the Delhi Development Authority.
Once paid, DDA can issue completion certificates for the CWG village flats.
The court also asked DDA to issue power of attorney to the builder once it pays the dues. This step is necessary before giving the flats to those who have bought them.
Justice Hima Kohli directed the builder to pay Rs 16.19 crore to DDA after the latter’s counsel Ajay Verma said it recently issued completion certificates to 26 towers.
For the remaining four towers, it will issue the certificates once its dues are cleared.
In the last hearing, the court had directed DDA to expedite the process of issuing completion certificates for the flats housed in 30 towers and keep four towers separately.
Suspicious that the DDA was discriminating in issuing certificates to the flats and choosing towers arbitrarily for itself, the court had directed it to keep four towers — Emaar MGF’s share — separately.
Businessman seeks bail
A private firm’s top official, arrested for his alleged role in a graft case related to upgrading of the city’s street-lighting system before the CWG, has moved a Delhi court for bail. He said he has been wrongly implicated by the MCD.
Managing director T P Singh of Sweska Powertech Engineers Pvt Ltd, which was allegedly favoured in awarding the street lighting contract, has moved the court of Special CBI judge Pradeep Chaddah for bail.
He said the charges against him do not entail life term.
Singh’s counsel Pramod Dubey said he has been “implicated in the case by the MCD only to withhold the payment of Rs 23 crore that the civic agency owes to his company in lieu of maintenance of the streetlights.”
The court has asked the CBI to file its reply on Singh’s bail plea after the agency sought more time.
Dubey also said his client should be given bail as former organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, who was charged under section 467 of the IPC (forgery of valuable securities), which carries a maximum of life imprisonment, has been given bail by the Delhi High Court.
He said there is no fear of Chaddah tampering with evidence or influencing witnesses.
Singh was arrested by CBI on June 9 last year. Singh, along with MCD superintendent engineer D K Sugan, executive engineer O P Mahala, accountant Raju V and MCD tender clerk Gurcharan Singh are accused of corruption in upgrading the city’s street lighting system before the CWG.