Former collector did not tell govt Adarsh posed security problem

Former Mumbai collector Pradeep Vyas accepted before the Adarsh inquiry commission that he had never brought to the government’s notice the security implications of a residential high-rise like Adarsh dominating the entire navy and army area.

Former Mumbai collector Pradeep Vyas accepted before the Adarsh inquiry commission that he had never brought to the government’s notice the security implications of a residential high-rise like Adarsh dominating the entire navy and army area.

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He also claimed that he did not bring to the government’s notice a letter by the Ministry of Defence that referred to the existence of an Eco Park named Khukri Park on the contentious piece of land. The Defence Estates Officer had written a letter dated June 16, 2003 to Vyas who was the then collector.

“A multi-storeyed high-rise of private individuals in that plot would dominate the entire Army and Navy area and other sensitive installations like TIFR. Sustainability of a private owned high-rise may invite security implications in the long run,” the letter said. When showed this evidence, Vyas said, “I marked the letters to the city superintendent of Land Records, who marked it to the revenue branch.

However, Vyas did not clarify on the title of the land. When probed about trying to find out title of the land by the counsel, Vyas said even after getting land record files from the commissioner Konkan division he did not send the reply to the government.