Adarsh scam: Not resigning out of guilt, says Subhash Lalla

Former bureaucrat Subhash Lalla, under the scanner for his role in the Adarsh society scam, resigned from his post as state human rights commission member on Monday.

Former bureaucrat Subhash Lalla, under the scanner for his role in the Adarsh society scam, resigned from his post as state human rights commission member on Monday.

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Lalla, former principal secretary to the chief minister, whose family has two flats in the controversial tower, met governor K Sankaranarayanan at Raj Bhavan on Tuesday to hand in his resignation. His letter stated, “I want to clarify that my resigning from the post is voluntary and in no way an admission of any guilt or wrongdoing on my part. I am confident that any fair inquiry will conclude that.”

Sources in the government said with Lalla resigning, the other bureaucrat named in the scam, state right to information commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, would follow suit.

Both Lalla and Tiwari are likely to be named in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) complaint.

Lalla was secretary to the then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh between 2004 and 2006, while Tiwari was Urban Development Department secretary from 2003 to 2008. A majority of the clearances for Adarsh, including hike in FSI and land allotment, was cleared during this period.

In his resignation letter, Lalla maintained that he had no role or financial involvement in the purchase of flats in Adarsh, and he was resigning for the sake of dignity of the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission and to avoid further embarrassment to the government or to himself. His letter states that the membership of the society for his mother and daughter were through his late father, Shaligram Lalla, who served in the Military Engineering Services in Kamptee Cantonment in Nagpur and had good relations with the main promoter of the society, RC Thakur.