MoD claims ownership of Adarsh land

The ministry of defence filed a civil suit on Friday asking the Bombay high court to declare that the Cuffe Parade plot, on which the 31-storey high-rise of the Adarsh Housing Society stands, is theirs.

The ministry of defence filed a civil suit on Friday asking the Bombay high court to declare that the Cuffe Parade plot, on which the 31-storey high-rise of the Adarsh Housing Society stands, is theirs.

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The ministry also wants peaceful possession of the 3,854-sqm plot after the building has been demolished.

The move comes eight months after a two-member commission appointed by the state government declared that the land belonged to the government.

Claiming that they are the sole owners of the land and that it was allotted to the housing society by fraud, collusion and connivance of the society members, ministers and state bureaucrats, the ministry has also sought orders to demolish the building.

Besides the suit, the ministry has filed a petition in the high court for implementation of a 2011 order issued by the MoEF declaring the building illegal.