Maha govt never approached us for Adarsh land: Army

Maha govt never approached us for Adarsh land: Army

The Maharashtra govt never approached the Army seeking possession of the land where the controversial Adarsh Housing Society building stands, an Army official said while deposing before a commission set up to probe the case.

"The land belongs to Army and the state government had never asked the Defence Ministry to hand over the possession to it," Brigadier Deepak Saxena of the Army headquarters (Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa) told the Commission of Inquiry set up to probe the alleged scam.

However, the army is yet to submit records to show that the land where the 31-storey Adarsh building stands in upscale Colaba, belongs to it.

The Ministry of Defence has relied upon two 'development plans' showing the Army was in possession of the land even prior to 1937.

"All lands owned or under possession of the Army are entered into the Military Land Register. However the Adarsh plot does not exist in the register," Saxena had earlier told the commission.

Saxena refuted Adarsh's advocate Satish Maneshinde's contention that the state government had transferred a part of the land to the Army after taking over an Army property in suburban Santacruz.

"Army was always in possession of the land and hence the question of state government transferring part of the plot or seeking to hand over the land does not arise," he said.

When shown a letter written issued by Brigadier Parwinder Singh in April 2003 stating the Army does not own the Adarsh land, Saxena said, "Though Parwinder has no vested interest in Adarsh society, the letter must have been issued at the behest of senior officers."

The Army has not taken any action against Parwinder so far, he added.

Adarsh panel issues summons to Deshmukh, Ashok Chavan

The inquiry commission probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam has issued summons to former Maharashtra Chief Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan to appear before it as witnesses.

The two-member commission, which summoned Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde last week, issued summons to Deshmukh, presently Union Minister for Rural Development, and Chavan.

Chavan, who had to step down as the state chief minister last year following the Adarsh controversy, has been named among the 14 accused by the CBI in its probe into the scam.

Chavan, the then State Revenue minister, is accused of recommending 40 per cent allotment of flats in the Adarsh Society, originally meant for Kargil war widows, to civilians. His relatives allegedly got flats in return.

Deshmukh as Chief Minister had dealt with files pertaining to the high rise in upscale Colaba. Both the ex-CMs have now been added to the list of 17 witnesses summoned last week.

The list includes State Minister for Water Resources Sunil Tatkare, Adarsh Society's General Secretary R C Thakur, former Principal Secretary of Urban Development department Ramanand Tiwari, Congress leader K L Gidwani, former Collector of Mumbai, Pradeep Vyas and former Under Secretary of Urban Development department P V Deshmukh.

The Commission is presently recording the evidence of first witness, Brigadier Deepak Saxena of the Army Headquarters (Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat).