After Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) served a notice to Maharashtra State Women's Commission (MSWC) asking it to either pay the dues or vacate their Bandra premises by April 30, both the parties are hoping to sort out the issue "amicably".
MHADA has rented a portion of its office premises to the Commission at its headquarters.
As per the notice, MHADA had asked the Commission to clear the dues by April 30.
In the said premise, the MSWC runs an office with 35 employees and a courtroom since its inception in 1993.
Even after the deadline to pay the rent has got over, the Commission is hoping that the issue would be sorted out "amicably".
"Yes, we were served the notice and I have filed a suitable reply also. I am confident that matter would be sorted out amicably," MSWC Member Secretary A N Tripathi told PTI today.
The Commission is not willing to pay the rent at commercial rates as we are also a government body and serve for the cause of women's empowerment, he added.
Tripathi also asserted that the Commission would continue doing its work even if it has to operate under a tree.
He, however, said this situation won't arise and things would be sorted out.
When contacted, MHADA officials said this is not a rent dispute or an infringement of women's rights, but it was an initiative to secure some space in their own building as MHADA itself is falling short of spaces to execute it's different newly launched projects.
They also hoped that the issue will be solved "amicably".
"Recently MHADA has got numerous other big size projects to execute such as 'Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana', Dharavi and BDD chawls' redevelopment schemes and others," MHADA secretary Bharat Bastewad told PTI.
"Hence we have asked other government bodies to either pay the dues or vacate the premises so that we can generate some additional space for ourselves," he said.
He said MHADA has not only served such a notice MSWC but also to around 15 other government bodies who are operating in the same building and are not paying rent consistently.
