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Anti-corruption measures started in 2015 by the then trio -- Bhatia, Radha and Sarvade turn nought due to inactive officials   Navi Mumbai, October 5, 2021: It was in March 2015 that the then first Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of Cidco Dr Pradnya Sarvade launched a weblink and email ID: cvo@cidco.maharashtra.gov.in as a part of measures to eradicate corruption in the planning authority and to give easy access to public spirited citizens to bring the corrupt to books. Six years down, the present breed of officials in the vigilance department have rather resolved not to take cognizance of the emails to cvo@cidco.maharashtra.gov.in by residents pointing out corruption in certain departments. Not only this even the complaints of corruption lodged through the official Dakshata portal go unattended and the Right to Information (RTI) applications filed for seeking information about the vigilance department are not assigned to any officials for months. All these actions on part...

  The planning agency only wants to release plots and profit itself without ensuring water supply for residents  Navi Mumbai, September 20, 2021: Cidco as the names suggests is the authority established to develop city and industrial areas, recently, it has bombarded most of the social media platforms with advertisements to lease out it’s plots in Kharghar and some other nodes in Navi Mumbai. This leasing out of plots is at the cost of the Kharghar node facing a severe water scarcity and residents of most of the housing societies barely receiving water for a couple of hours in a day. It is very shameful for the planning agency and it’s top brass that they cannot ensure even basic level of water supply to its residents. Recently, I went through an article published in a leading daily, which credited Cidco for building world class infrastructure in Navi Mumbai. What is the use of this infrastructure if people are not going to get water supply? I know housing societies in...

    Mumbai, September 13, 2021: A report in a Marathi daily, highlights how cases of corruption went up during the second wave of Covid (April-May) though the attendance of officials was 50% and how even after catching the corrupt officials red handed the anti-graft agency of the state is unable to get them prosecuted as the cases fall flat in the background of political will. To cement their claims, the anti-corruption bureau has revealed certain statistics, which is quite disturbing and bound to shake the faith of common man, who approaches the anti-graft agencies with a lot of hope that he will get some relief from the corrupt government officials. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) reveals that 204 officials and staff, who were caught red handed while accepting bribe, are yet to be suspended, while 29 officials, who were convicted on charges of corruption are yet to be dismissed from service. Further it mentions that proposals to seize property of 13 officials are ...

  May 21, 2021, Kolhapur: Police, civic admin fail to act against high and mighty violators   Kolhapur city and the district are presently under a total lockdown to contain the spread of corona virus. The citizens are not allowed to venture out to fetch essentials or get their daily supplies of milk. The only reason permitted to undertake travel is a medical condition or appointment with doctor.   Kolhapur Superintendent of Police Shailesh Balkavade and the district collector Daulat Desai have appealed to the people to stay indoors and comply with the lockdown orders. Ironically, both these officials failed miserably in their commitment towards common citizens of the district by failing to act in a timely manner and allowing elections to the Gokul cooperative society wherein all the social distancing norms and Covid protocol behaviour were thrown to the wind.   The officials need to give it a thought and also question themselves whether they are doing the...

  Will and Probate   Background: In the previous blog we have discussed about – what is a Will and its essential characteristics, who can make a Will, care to be taken while drafting a Will and so on. In today’s blog we will discuss about what is a Probate and how can it be obtained. We have already seen that a Will is a legal declaration made by the testator/testatrix with respect to his property, which he desires to take effect after his death. It is a legal instrument by which a person makes a disposition of his property to take effect after his death. It is to be noted that in metro cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata one needs to apply for probate. Also, sometimes the situations may so arise (we will discuss the situations subsequently), wherein the executor of the Will may have to apply for a probate in other areas as well.   What is a Probate and its importance? In simple language, a probate is nothing but an official proof of a will. The exec...

  Importance of a Will  In the following blog we will discuss the topic Will and its importance in today’s world in very simple terms. The complex issues related to this subject will be discussed in blogs to come. The most certain thing in any individual’s life is death, rest of the things are uncertain. A mere mention of the word ‘Will’ makes many people uncomfortable as the word is associated with death of a loved one. However, in today’s world it is extremely important to make a Will so that your loved ones do not have to face any legal complications and run from pillar-to- post to ensure that they become legal owners of your property after your death.     Who can make a Will?   Every person who is of a sound mind and is not a minor can make a Will.   Here the sound mind means – the testator (person who is making a Will) has a sound mind to understand the disposition of the property in his Will. He must comprehend and have a clear unde...

On a relaxed Sunday morning nearly a fortnight ago, as I was going through my Facebook account, I stumbled upon an advertisement of Avadhut Sathe Trading Academy (fondly called as ASTA by it's students) which had testimonials of some students who had converted a paltry sum of Rs 50,000 into several lakhs in a matter of six to twelve months. As an individual who firmly believes that one cannot become rich overnight, these testimonials were enough to fire my curiosity and I decided to attend the Eye Opener Seminar to find out what all these stock market classes are all about. However, before taking a final decision on attending the seminar, I searched Google for reviews on the Academy, but surprisingly I did not find a single negative review about the Academy. The seminar was held on March 3 at a plush hotel in Navi Mumbai. Mind you they are charging money from the seminar under the head of venue charges (I had to pay Rs 607 (venue charges + convenience fee). The good t...