Defence fails to prove it owns Adarsh land

A two-member judicial panel probing the Adarsh housing scam on Friday submitted its interim report, and the indications are that it favours the state govt’s claim of ownership of the plot on which the controversial high-rise has come up, over that of the defence establishment. Zeeshan Shaikh reports. The Adarsh panel

A two-member judicial commission probing the Adarsh housing scam on Friday submitted its interim report, and the indications are that it favours the state government’s claim of ownership of the plot on which the controversial high-rise has come up, over that of the defence establishment.

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The report has not been made public but sources indicated that the defence establishment could not provide proper documents to back its claim over the plot.

A conclusion in favour of the government’s claim would mean a significant twist in the scam. Politicians, army officials and bureaucrats were accused of conspiring to grab the plot and building a high-rise residential tower in one of the most sought-after addresses in Mumbai.

Commission secretary NN Kumbhar handed over the report to chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad.

The commission has been probing the Adarsh scam for more than 15 months.

It was asked in January to submit an interim report on two issues: who owns the land and whether there was any reservation of the plot for any purpose, including for houses for Kargil heroes.

Sources indicated the commission, while being unimpressed by the army’s claims of ownership, was also critical of the role of bureaucrats.

The developments could provide relief to three former chief ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh whose names are embroiled in the controversy.

The commission has also not examined the politicians yet.