Mumbai: Retired Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) town planner Dilip Gheware, one of the accused in the 2016 multi-crore Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) scam was on Monday appointed by the civic administration on a contract basis to handle cluster development projects and implementation of land acquisition process.Gheware was the only applicant for the job of special officeron contract basis.Last month, MBMC sought applications from retired government and semi government officers with five to ten years experience for three posts— special officer, naib tehsildar (immediate subordinate of a tehsildar) and deputy engineer (construction). Applicants had time till October 30. The interview was slotted for November 1. However, no application was received for special officer and deputy engineer. The dates were extended till November 7, during which time Gheware applied for the post of special officer. He was selected.Gheware who retired on August 31 was arrested in June 2021 by the Thane city crime branch in connection with the land scam. He was later out on bail. In June this year he moved the Bombay high court for quashing the FIR against him. He was booked under IPC sections 420, 467,468, 470,471, 120-B of the IPC. The court disposed the petition after the Thane city crime branch submitted to the court that they will not proceed with filing of the chargesheet against Gheware under section 173 of the IPC.While MBMC commissioner Sanjay Katkar did not respond to call, the appointment led to anger among activists in the region. He was a failure as a town planner. Now to bring him to handle land acquision processes is a mockery of the system, said a social activist from Bhayander. The case pertains to a probe by the Thane police into the scam in which Gheware along with some builders allegedly submitted bogus ULC certificates and were exempted from surrendering 5% excess land to the government, causing huge losses.

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