Did not check if Adarsh society fulfilled norms, says city collector

Mumbai city collector CV Oak told the Adarsh commission on Thursday that his office did not check if Adarsh society had fulfilled the conditions as specified in the Letter of Intent (LOI) issued to them.

Mumbai city collector CV Oak told the Adarsh commission on Thursday that his office did not check if Adarsh society had fulfilled the conditions as specified in the Letter of Intent (LOI) issued to them.

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Oak was deposing before the two-member commission set up to probe the irregularities in the 31-storeyed structure. “As far as the record of the Collector’s office goes, I do not think the Collector’s office has checked the conditions of the LOI, whether they are complied with or not,” Oak said.

A LOI is issued by the property owner to the legal entity in whose favour rights are proposed to be created. It is subject to the various conditions to be fulfilled by the beneficiary – in this case it is the society.

Oak further said after he took charge of his post in May 25, 2010 he had approved the names of three members – Dr Archana Tiwari, captain Praveen Kumar and Dr SB Chavan for Adarsh society. “The membership of Dr Tiwari was granted in view of the order passed by the Cooperative Appellate Tribunal while the membership of Kumar was approved as per the order of passed by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court,” Oak said. With respect to Dr Chavan, Oak said he had replaced Eknath Rathod who had tendered his resignation from the society.

Oak further said it was up to the society to either approve or reject the resignation of the member, and the Collector was not involved in the process.