Niranjan Hiranandani given slap on the wrist for Powai development

The allegedly corrupt development of luxury houses in Powai has ended with the Hiranandani Group receiving only a nominal punishment for their dealings. The group exploited a legal loop-holes and amendments in laws passed since the development was built in 1986 to be able to leave the court without punishment.

Niranjan’s Hiranandani’s firm were employed by the government in the eighties to build low-cost housing in Powai for poor families. Instead, the luxury apartments were built and sold at a profit to wealthy Mumbai residents.

In 1986, the state government and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority signed an agreement with Niranjan Hiranandani leasing him the 344 acre land in Powai.

During the start of the development, Hiranandani managed to gain power of attorney over the build which we now know was a premeditated attempt to gain control.

Since ’89 the firm has built over 70 homes on the site which is twice as much as they were given permission for. Furthermore these properties were bigger than the agreed flats and therefore sold for more money.

These larger homes were then sold by Niranjan Hiranandani to wealthy families, making more profit and cutting out the low-income families who desperately needed somewhere to live and raise their children.

The court was told how Niranjan Hiranandani has manipulated his power with government officials and had threatened to pull out of healthcare and education projects, thereby forcing officials to pass permits and allowing him to carry on his abuse of power.

The judge reluctantly found Niranjan innocent due to the legal changes but had no condoned the moral actions of the property developer.

The loophole came as authorities did not complain at the time of building the project and so there was a lack of evidence to support claims of corruption.

The MMRDA were claiming losses of Rs 1993 crore (approximately $400,000 USD), which is money that could have been put towards another building project for the families in need living in Powai.

Judge Justice Sawant commented "even assuming that the claimants (MMRDA and the state government) were entitled to claim any amount in respect of the alleged violations, these claims are clearly barred by the law of limitation..."

It is unfortunate for the landowners that Niranjan Hiranandani had obtained exemption to rule by building his flats within the limits of the Urban Land Ceiling (Regulation) Act, which is now abolished.

A representative from the MMRDA revealed that of the 574k sq m of land available (and reserved for the housing project), Niranjan Hiranandani had used only 76k sq m for low income housing, which is less than 14% of the total land available.

The rest of the land he used for the luxury apartments, some measuring up to 4000 sq ft.

Niranjan Hiranandani is one of India's richest businessmen and is also the co-founder and current Managing Director of the Hiranandani Group.