Challenging Integrity : Author’s Response to Accusations from Former Civic Chief Iqbal Singh Chahal

Part V : Controversial tenure of former civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal: A review of accusations and their consequences  

X : @vivekbhavsar

Mumbai

While I am publishing a series about the “Controversial tenure of (former) civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal: A review of accusations and their consequences”, I received a WhatsApp message from Mr Iqbal Singh Chahal on Saturday, October 19, 2024. Therefore, I would like to address the fact that Mr Iqbal Singh Chahal, in his communication, raised concerns about my integrity and honesty as a Journalist. 

This is a unique experience for me in my 30-year career in Journalism. Despite feeling reluctant and saddened, I feel compelled to publish this article as a response to Mr Iqbal Singh Chahal’s message. It is essential for me to present the facts of the situation and disclose the contents of the message received from Mr Chahal. 

I am sharing the following letter with Mr Iqbal Singh Chahal and making it available on my news portal for the readers’ awareness. 

To,

Dear Mr Chahal,

I appreciate your attention to Part IV of my series titled “Controversial tenure of (former) Civic Chief Iqbal Singh Chahal: A review of accusations and their consequences.” Commencing on September 27, 2024, I embarked on this series. On the inaugural day, you contacted me, urging a meeting at your office the following day. Additionally, you advised against releasing any news until our meeting. Despite your request, I chose to publish Part II of the series on September 28, 2024, and deferred our meeting until the completion of the series. 

Subsequent to the publication of Part II on October 01, 2024, I forwarded a questionnaire to your official email address, acs.home@maharashtra.gov.in. The questionnaire was aimed at soliciting your explanations to ensure impartiality in my series and to include your perspective in the publication. Following my email to you, I received a response from your personal email address (iqchahal2002@yahoo.com). However, upon my request to send the response from your official email address, you complied, communicated, and did so.. 

Later, I received another message from you on October 01, 2024. Once again, you requested a meeting at your office on Thursday, October 03, 2024, at 12:30 pm, mentioning that you were suffering from a viral fever. Despite your insistence, I declined to meet with you as it was not my intention to do so. 

In your message, you alleged that “News items being published with a pre-motivated and preset agenda deserve no response or clarification.” This accusation challenges my integrity and professionalism as an “Investigative Journalist” with 30 years of experience in this field. You accused me of having a pre-motivated and preset agenda in my news publications. 

In light of this, I seek clarification on the following points: 

1. If you believe I have a pre-motivated agenda, why did you repeatedly summon me to your office for meetings whenever I published news under the title “Controversial tenure of (former) Civic Chief Iqbal Singh Chahal: A review of accusations and their consequences”? 

2. What was the purpose behind your invitations for meetings at your office? 

3. Why did you specifically call me to your office on Thursday, October 03, 2024, mentioning your viral fever and offering an apology? 

4. I had a strong suspicion that your meeting invitations, assertions of illness, and apologies were strategies designed to entrap me. 

Considering your seniority as an IAS officer in the position of ACS (Home), I was cautious of the potential repercussions of meeting you in your office. Consequently, I made a conscious decision not to attend the meetings. 

You have accused me of having a preset agenda behind the publication of news against you. In light of this, I have the following queries for you: 

1. It seems that your unfounded accusations stem from your unsuccessful attempts to arrange meetings with me. Perhaps your intention was to influence or manipulate me by scheduling these meetings. 

2. If I indeed had a predetermined agenda, I would not have extended a questionnaire to you; instead, I would have opted for a face-to-face meeting. 

3. Shouldn’t you provide a response or clarification to address the serious nature of the allegations I have raised, especially if you are innocent and have nothing to hide? 

As a senior IAS officer, shouldn’t you clarify concerns such as 

a) alleged misuse of power under the pretext of hardship, 

b) exceeding your authority, 

c) granting approvals beyond the provisions of DCPR 2034, approved by the Legislative Assembly? 

4. Your reluctance to respond and clarify to the questions I have raised may imply tacit acceptance of the allegations, as silence can be interpreted as deemed acceptance. 

5. While you initially replied to the questionnaire I sent, your subsequent refusal to address my queries suggests discomfort with my scrutiny of your actions. This pattern indicates your awareness of potential violations committed knowingly for the benefit of select developers. 

6. Your consistent invitations for meetings could possibly give the impression of a predetermined agenda aimed at framing me unjustly. 

In your message, you stated, “I made a mistake in submitting clarification to you as a gentleman.” 

1. From my perspective, as a Public Servant, you are RESPONSIBLE and OBLIGATED to the public for your actions and decisions in the capacity of a Public Servant. 

2. If you state that you made an error in submitting clarification to me, it is regrettable, and I refrain from offering further comment on this matter. 

In your message, you stated, “Since you are not an Urban Development expert, how can you analyse technical responses and make judgments.” 

1. Indeed, I am not an Urban Development Expert. However, I have been immersed in journalism for 30 years, specialising as a political and Investigative Journalist, particularly focusing on the Mantralaya secretariat and the state legislature. 

2. As an Investigative Journalist, my practice involves seeking opinions from experts in the relevant field, verifying the information with additional experts, and then presenting it as My Views with the facts. 

3. I find it surprising and unsettling that instead of addressing the substance of the matter, you are questioning my expertise in Urban Development. It would have been more constructive if you had refuted my views with references to the provisions of the MRTP Act 1966 and DCPR 2034 to prove me incorrect. 

4. I still extend the invitation for you to legally challenge my viewpoints. Should you succeed in demonstrating my analysis to be incorrect, I am willing to publicly apologise by publishing it on my news portal without any hesitation. 

5. Rather than deflecting from the core issue and casting doubt on my expertise and analytical abilities, I urge you to engage directly with my technical analysis and refute it accordingly. 

In your message, you stated, “You should have quoted my response in verbatim & in all fairness, you should have left it to the wisdom of readers to analyse the issues raised by you & my response on these issues.” 

1. I would like to clarify that in my Part III & IV of the said series, I precisely quoted my questions and your responses word for word as they were provided by you. I ensured to copy your responses exactly as given and included them in my story. 

2. You mentioned that I should have quoted my response verbatim, which I have diligently done. Additionally, you suggested that it would have been fair to let readers analyse the issues raised by me and your responses themselves. However, as an Investigative Journalist, it is my responsibility to present the entire matter with analysis and allow readers to evaluate the facts. 

3. In your communication, you highlighted that I am not an EXPERT OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT, implying that it may be challenging for a common man or readers to comprehend and analyse the issues without expertise in the field. Without publishing the analysis obtained from urban development experts, it would indeed be arduous for readers to grasp the complexities of the matter. 

4. Therefore, as an investigative journalist, I believe it is my duty to publish the story with my questions, your responses, and my viewpoints supported by the facts obtained from urban development experts. 

Your message further suggests that you may not wish for me to publish stories related to Misuse of Power under the guise of HARDSHIP, Overstepping authority, and granting illegal approvals beyond the provisions of DCPR 2034 established by legislators. 

5. I urge you to address the main issue directly with legally supported documents and provisions instead of shifting the focus away from the core matter. 

In your message, you stated, “Rather, you chose to analyse them as an urban development expert and mis-lead readers with incorrect assumptions and conclusions.” 

1. As mentioned earlier, being an investigative journalist, I feel it is my duty to publish the story with my question, your response, and my views, along with the facts I obtained from other experts in Urban Development. This will be presented in a simple and easy-to-understand manner for the readers, so they can analyse the issue themselves. 

2. My views and facts are based on the question I sent to you and your reply to that question. If you believe my analysis of the issue is incorrect and not in accordance with the provisions of the law, please enlighten me with the facts, legally supported documents, and the relevant legal provisions. I will publish that information as well. 

3. As I mentioned earlier, I will not be biased in the story and I am committed to publishing all documents / information provided by you, following the ethical practices of journalism. 

In your message, you stated, “For your kind information, the issues raised by you were also raised in the State Legislative Assembly and were replied to by BMC to the full satisfaction of the August house.” 

1. According to my information, one question was submitted by Hon’ble MLA Shri Samadhan Avatade during the winter session held in December 2023 at Nagpur, which was never discussed or argued, possibly due to a lack of time. Hon’ble MLA Avatade wrote a letter to the Hon’ble Speaker of the Assembly about organising a meeting in the Speaker’s cabin, which I believe never happened. 

2. Another question was submitted by Hon’ble MLC Shri Sachin Ahir during the monsoon session in June 2024 held in Mumbai, which also was not discussed or argued, possibly due to a lack of time. 

3. I fail to understand why these questions were not discussed in both houses of the assembly. Was any power worked for this? 

4. As far as I know, no reply was filed by the BMC. I humbly request you to provide me with a copy of the reply filed by the BMC. In all fairness I will analyse it and am committed to publish it. 

5. Once again, I request you to address the main issue with legally supporting documents and/or provisions, instead of diverting the topic. 

In your message, you stated, “Please excuse me from seeking any further clarifications as they may not serve any real purpose, considering the preset agenda and the actual intentions behind these news items.” 

1. With due respect, I would like to submit that, as a Public Servant, you are ANSWERABLE and ACCOUNTABLE. 

2. You do not have immunity from being ANSWERABLE and ACCOUNTABLE for the decisions taken by you in your capacity as a Public Servant. 

3. I do not understand how you can assess the real purpose of the story published by me. I do not understand what you believe is the preset agenda and the actual intentions behind these news items. 

4. As an Investigative Journalist, it is my social and moral responsibility to publish a story with fair practice and without bias. It seems, I did not accept your invitation to meet in your office, you are making baseless allegations against me, possibly out of frustration at being exposed. 

For your kind information and knowledge, I am giving you my background as an Investigative Journalist; 

1. I have been working in journalism for 30 years as a political and investigative journalist, focusing on the Mantralaya secretariat and the state legislature. 

2. Throughout my career, I’ve uncovered several significant issues, including MIDC land scams, the land purchase scams related to the Nanar Petrochemical Project (a project valued at ₹1 lakh crores, which was canceled after I published numerous articles exposing irregularities), Chandrapur coal mine scams, Tur dal procurement scams, and legal violations during land acquisition for the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Corridor. Notably, my reporting led the state government to decide to purchase land from farmers at market rates following my series of stories. 

3. As the founder of TheNews21, we highlighted how China violated the UN’s Biological Weapons Convention treaties during the COVID pandemic. Our investigative series prompted Mr. Larry Klaymen and other plaintiffs to file a $20 trillion lawsuit against China in the Northern District Court of the United States. 

4. My professional experience includes working with English dailies such as The Asian Age and the Free Press Journal in Mumbai, as well as with vernacular publications like Lokmat and Saamana. 

5. TheNews21 is a non-profit media house that has never accepted political funding. We rely entirely on donations and have been sustained by the generous support of our readers since our launch in September 2019. Their backing has been crucial in allowing us to continue our mission of delivering impactful, independent journalism. 

After reading your recent message, I was taken aback. It is for the first time in my 30 years professional career of Journalism, that I have received such a message from a senior IAS officer. Perhaps the expected response from me has not reached you, causing you to possibly be extremely distressed, there is a possibility that you may have sent me a message with such content, but I wanted to very humbly tell you that not everyone is manageable. 

You are a senior officer, working as an Administrative Head of the police department and after reviewing your working style and reading your message, I have decided that the invitation given to me by you for a meeting in your office is not to be accepted, and now I believe it was the right decision. 

Finally, I am sending one more question to your official email address acs.home@maharashtra.gov.in regarding the misuse of power under the guise of hardship, overstepping your authority, and granting illegal approvals exceeding the provisions of the DCPR 2034, passed on the floor of the house by the Law Makers. 

I request an explanation on how, in your capacity as the ex Hon’ble Municipal Commissioner of BMC, you were empowered to grant approvals beyond the provisions of the DCPR 2034. It appears that you have made illegal decisions and granted approvals to benefit a few developers at the cost of the Government Treasury. I request you to reply to my email within 7 days to help me publish an unbiased story with your explanation. Otherwise, I will have no choice but to publish my article about the misuse of power, overstepping your authority, and granting illegal approvals exceeding the provisions of the DCPR 2034. 

Thank you. 

Best Regards 

Vivek Bhavsar 

Editor-in-Chief

TheNews21