Uddhav faction MLA Ravindra Waikar moves Bombay High Court alleging discrimination against opposition MLAs in development fund allocation

The Bombay High Court on Friday sought response of the State government to a plea filed by Ravindra Waikar, a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) belonging to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena seeking equal allocation of Maharashtra Local Development (MLD) funds without discrimination on the basis of political parties to which MLAs belong..A division bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and MW Chandwani granted the request by the government pleader for 3 weeks' time to get instructions in the matter..MLD Funds are allocated to each MLA and legislative council for development of the local areas. The plea said that the funds were allocated through the District Planning Commission for various heads like:reallocation of slum dwellers, their rehabilitationdevelopment of basic infrastructure in municipal corporationsurban development in slums.The State government, through the Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority (MHADA), had allotted a total of ₹45,102.42 lakh for the following: ₹11,420.44 lakhs for ‘Slum Dwellers Re-allocaton and Rehabilitation Plan of 2022-23’, ₹26,687.2 lakhs for ‘Development of Slums in Other than Backward Class’ and ₹7,000 lakhs for ‘Development of Basic Infrastructure’ for the areas in Mumbai Suburban District. The amount allocation list indicated that constituencies represented by the ruling party i.e. Bharatiya Janata Party and Eknath Shinde faction of Shivsena (Balasaheb Thackeray) (Eknath Shinde faction) and Republican Party were allocated large amounts of funds..Waikar submitted that his constituency itself had a number of slums which are in need of civic amenities, but him along with other members of his party were denied funds for their respective constituency. In his plea filed through advocate Siddhasen Borulkar, Waikar stated that the allocation of funds was discriminatory and arbitrary. “The State’s action of allocation of funds is irrational, arbitrary, unfair and contrary to the public interest, and not based on sound reasoning. There are no grounds for making this arbitrary classification amongst the members equally situated,” the plea emphasized..The petitioner, therefore, sought directions to the respondent authorities which include State government and MHADA to allocate funds in equal proportion for the plans of 2022-23 without discriminating amongst the MLAs and MLCs.Waikar also asked the Court to quash and setting aside the present allocation of funds.