Former municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta, who was also the chief secretary of the state, has recently bought a flat in Nariman Point for Rs 5.3 crore. Mehta is currently the chief advisor to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The flat that Mehta bought is located on the 5th floor of Samata Co-operative Housing Society, on General Jagannath Bhosale Marg near Mantralaya. The carpet area of the flat is 1,076 square feet. The deal was finalised in October. Along with the apartment, Mehta has got two car parking spots in the building.
Mehta confirmed the deal to Mirror and added that he had bought it at market rate and that the documents are in the public domain. The market price of the flat is Rs 5.33 crore.
Mehta paid Rs 2.76 crore via RTGS, Rs 2.5 crore has been paid by him via a post-dated cheque of October 4, 2021. Rs 3.97 lakh (Rs 3,97,500) has been deducted as tax at source.
According to documents available, the stamp duty of Rs 10.68 lakh has been paid by the seller, Anamitra Properties Pvt Ltd, based in Pune. Anamitra Properties bought this flat in 2009, for Rs 4 crore from Ashish Manohar, son of late Justice Sharad Manohar. Ashish was the only legal heir of Justice Manohar, who died on October 4, 2000. The wife of Justice Sharad Manohar and his daughter had died earlier.
The Mumbai collector, on August 28, 2020, had granted the seller permission to transfer the flat by paying a transfer fee of Rs 16.80 lakh. This amount was also paid by the seller of the property. The seller, Anamitra Properties, did not respond to a detailed email sent to them regarding the deal.
About Mehta Mehta, a 1984 batch IAS officer, took over as the state chief secretary in May 2019. Before that, he had served as BMC commissioner for four years. He was to retire on September 30, 2019, but in view of the 2019 assembly polls, he was given an extension of six months, which was ending on March 31. He then got another extension, this time for three months, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He retired on June 30. He was then appointed as principal advisor of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
