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Adarsh society case: Interim probe report
submitted
The interim
report of a two-member commission probing the Adarsh Housing
Society scam in Mumbai was submitted to the Maharashtra government
Friday, official sources said.
The report by the commission, comprising Justice (retd.)
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Mumbai: In a major
relief to three former Maharashtra chief ministers, a judicial
panel's interim report Tuesday said the land on which the
controversial Adarsh Society building stands belongs to the state
government and was not intended for Kargil war heroes or their
relatives.
The interim report by the two-member judicial commission
comprising former judge, Justice J.A. Patil and former state chief
secretary P. Subrahmanyam, appointed nearly one and half years
ago, was tabled in the state legislature this afternoon.
"Their (state government) claim stands established in view of the
provisions of Section 294, Military Land Register Code, 1966. The
MLRC came into force on Aug 15, 1967 and there is no evidence to
show that on that date the land in question was occupied by
anybody," the commission's report said.
"Moreover, the same has been corroborated by other factors viz.,
admissions on part of the MoD (ministry of defence), absence of
entry of the land in question in the MLR maintained by the Defence
Estates Officer and the inaction on the part of Army/MoD to assert
their alleged right."
"The Commission, therefore, holds that the land belongs to GoM
(government of Maharashtra) and accordingly records its finding on
Term No 1 of the reference," it noted.
On the issue of reservation of the plot for Kargil heroes, the
commission stated: "There is no GR or notification issued by the
Government of Maharashtra providing reservation of the land in
question for the defence personnel or Kargil war heroes."
"In fact at the time of arguments the counsel for MoD, GoM, or
even the Adarsh CHS Ltd uniformally submitted that there was no
such reservation. In view of this position, there is no difficulty
in recording a negative finding on Term No 2 of the reference."
An official told IANS: "Earlier, this (Tuesday) morning, it (the
interim report) was discussed at the state cabinet meeting chaired
by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and approved before it was
tabled in the legislature."
The interim report's finding effectively spurns the claim of the
defence authorities that the plot of land in the posh Colaba area
of south Mumbai belonged to the department, and virtually upheld
the state government's contention that it was reclaimed from the
Arabian Sea in the 1970s.
The commission, which is enquiring into 13 crucial points,
submitted its findings on two critical aspects concerning the
ownership of the land - where the 31-storeyed building stands -
and its reservation for war martyrs or their families.
The report, which claimed the job of former chief minister Ashok
Chavan and also raised questions over the role played by his
predecessors, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde, both are
now union ministers, will submit its final findings on the
remaining 11 points later, the official informed.
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