It has been 11 years since the state government appointed a person to fill up the post of president of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada). Lastly, it was former MLA Madhu Chavan of the Congress party who headed the post till November 2004, after which he resigned.
A senior Mhada official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “There is political intervention when it comes to the appointment of the president of Mhada. Previously, it was evident when the Congress-NCP governed the state and now it is the BJP-Shiv Sena governing the state. The ruling alliance has not appointed anyone till date after almost a year into government. Both have differences when it comes to appointment to the post of president of Mhada.”
According to norm, the post of president is a political appointment and is of importance when it comes to approving of housing schemes and other administrative decisions of Mhada. However, the vice-president and the chief executive officer have to be a full-time IAS officer.
Speaking to The Asian Age, former president, Mhada, Madhu Chavan said, “This government claims ‘Housing For All by 2022’ but has not been able to elect anyone for the post of president. How can we believe that this government will provide affordable housing for all in that case It is, in a way, politically controlling Mhada, by making the vice-president report to the housing ministry.”
According to the norm, in the absence of president the vice-president is supposed to report to the housing ministry on clearance of the administrative decisions and approval of housing schemes.
However, housing minister Prakash Mehta, said, “The post of president being vacant does not matter as his absence has not affected the housing development authority’s work.”
Earlier in 2011, there were reports of former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan likely to be handed the top post, but that did not happen.
According to another senior Mhada official, the post of chairman for the Mumbai Housing and Area Development Board, Mumbai Slum Improvement Board and Mumbai Building and Reconstruction Board, which are all under Mhada, are also vacant and no appointments have been made. He further added that there have been talks of the appointment for the post president being made soon, but after the recent war of words between the BJP and Shiv Sena this is being delayed.
