By Varun Singh
Finding a buyer for a home that once was occupied by Haseena Parkar isn’t a very easy task. Haseena Parkar who died in 2014, is the sister of India’s most wanted terrorists Dawood Ibrahim.
In the year 2019, the office of the Competent Authority and Administrator, SAFEMA, an authority under the Ministry of Finance and Department of Revenue (Central Government) had auctioned the house belonging to Parkar, located in the building Gordon’s Hall’s first floor. Gordon Hall is 100 meters from South Mumbai’s Navapada junction.
However, the buyer whose credentials were kept secret by the authority has backed out from the deal and once again the 1BHK apartment is put on the block for auction.
The last auction was carried out on April Fool’s Day in the year 2019, the buyer had bid ₹1.8 crore.
The reason why the buyer backed out is explained by Hari Govind Singh, Competent Authority and Administrator, SAFEMA, Singh said, “The buyer when after all the procedure was carried out went to the building, he was informed by the Society that certain areas considered as part of the house was actually encroached by the previous occupant (Haseena Parkar). Hence, he approached the authority to cancel the deal.”
Normally, when a successful bidder backs out of an auction process his money is forfeited by the authority but in this case, the money was refunded as it wasn’t the bidder’s fault.
Hence, once again the Authority has put the apartment for auction. The reserve price fixed for the apartment is ₹1.1 crore, while the earnest money deposit that one has to pay to participate in the bidding process is ₹27.6 lakh.
There’s a difference in the reserve price from 2019, in the last auction the reserve price was ₹1.69 crore. According to sources there are two reasons for the lower reserve price this time, one of them is that the earlier auction included the encroachment and secondly this auction is post COVID times, when already real estate market isn’t doing great.
The property forfeited to the Central Government under the provision of Section 7 of Smugglers & Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976 (SAFEMA) is for sale on “AS IS WHERE IS” and “AS IS WHAT IS” basis. The auction shall be carried out in three forms; through Sealed Tender, Public Auction and e-Auction simultaneously.
The property can be inspected on November, 22, (Tuesday) between 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. All the forms of auction shall be held on and tenders will be opened on December 9, at 1st Floor, Aayakar Bhawan, M.K. Road, Churchgate.
Apart from this the important thing is that the society of Gordon Hall has informed the authority that there are pending dues to the tune of ₹2.95 lakh. These are society dues including penalty/interest @21 per cent. All this money shall be paid by the successful bidder.
