MK Rao Foundation siphons off funds, misuses court order
The city-based charitable organisation, M.K Rao Foundation, has misused a court order to siphon off funds meant for charity — like for construction of a hospital and an educational institution for the poor — a viewing of related documents testifies.
The foundation has also been fooling flat buyers in the proposed mega residential cum commercial complex, Trinity, in East Marredpally, as it does not have the encumbrance-free title for the land on which the complex is planned, records show.
Inquiries by Deccan Chronicle revealed that building permission for Trinity was obtained from the GHMC by suppressing the fact that the land has been mortgaged to the LIC Housing Finance. Surprisingly, the yet-to-be-erected flats were sold and registered without permission from the Telangana real estate regulatory authority. A parcel of land on which the complex is coming up was originally declared as excess land under the urban land ceiling Act. It was exempted due to an undertaking given by the foundation that it would carry out charitable activities there.
Documentary evidence available with this newspaper shows that the organisation has approached the city civil court in Secunderabad with a submission that is facing a funds crunch in the construction of a hospital and some educational institutions and as such its land in Secunderabad was inadequate to build these entities.
It said, therefore, it proposed to make use of the land for commercial purpose and utilise the proceeds to build a hospital and an educational facility in Nandi Vanaparthy on the city outskirts.
The court gave its approval on condition that the sale proceeds should strictly be utilised for the hospital and educational facility on the city outskirts. The court directed the foundation to intimate it at “each stage” of the progresss and that it should maintain a separate account for this. It warned that any deviation would lead to cancellation of the permission.
After obtaining the court order in November 2016, foundation managing trustee M. Kishan Rao mortgaged the land to LIC Housing Finance Ltd for `24 crore on April 22, 2017, and the alternative site of 40 acres to IDBI for `12 crore on July 20, 2019.
In the meantime, the trustees entered into a development agreement with Trishala Infratech to develop Trinity. GHMC records showed that an encumbrance certificate (EC) dated March 6, 2018, was furnished as part of the documents to obtain building permission. The EC did not reflect the mortgage of the land.
The EC obtained by this newspaper on Friday reflected the mortgage. “It is possible that the EC was forged. Misrepresentation of fact automatically attracts cancellation of the building permission,” a senior municipal administration official told Deccan Chronicle.
The GHMC issued the building plan on June 12, 2020, but the developers did not take mandatory permission from the TSRERA. Within a few months, the developer and the landowner sold and registered the yet-tobe-built flats in February and April — a serious offence under the TSRERA Act.