38 people yet to pay Maharashtra Rs. 5cr for police-protection
What's the story
The Maharashtra government is yet to recover dues amounting to Rs 5.11 crore from 38 people to whom police protection had been provided in Mumbai, according to an RTI query. Police authorities, however, said they are in the process of recovering the dues. The state government had faced criticism from the Bombay High Court over non-recovery of pending dues. Here's more about it.
Right to Information
The information furnished to RTI applicant Nagmani Pandey
The RTI query has revealed that from 2007 to 2017, the Mumbai Police provided protection to 2,293 people and received Rs. 44 crore in lieu of that. Till March 2018, the Mumbai Police had provided protection to 219 people and received Rs. 1.54 crore from them as charges. However, a total of Rs. 5.11 crore was still due from 38 people who got protection.
High Court
Most of the defaulters were either builders or businessmen
Hearing a PIL filed by advocate Sunny Punamiya, the HC last year had ordered the government to recover police security dues from individuals and political parties if their functionaries weren't paying up. The Mumbai Police said they were in the process to recover the dues. Asked about the pending dues, Punamiya said, "If this is the case, I need to file another PIL."