Among the bureaucrat allottees are former Chief Secretary D.K. The defence officers, claiming innocence, have offered to surrender their flats. Vij, former Navy chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh and Vice-Chief of the Army Staff General Shantanu Choudhary. A property offered for less than Rs.1 crore is a steal in this upmarket area.Īmong the defence brass who obtained flats in the Adarsh Society building are former Army chiefs Generals Deepak Kapoor and N.C. Real estate in Mumbai, particularly in the southern part of the island, is extremely valuable.
These people effectively bought apartments worth several crores (estimates vary between Rs.3 crore and Rs.8 crore) for Rs.60-80 lakh. The apartments were appropriated by the family members of several senior politicians, top defence officers and some bureaucrats. While doing so they ensured that some of their kin were able to own flats at throwaway prices. Information provided by informed sources reveals that the culprits deliberately pushed files to allow the building to come up. Every possible environment and urban development rule appears to have been broken. Documents made available to the media through RTI applications revealed a scam that reeked of corruption and nepotism. But RTI activists blew the lid off the scandal. The explanation seemed buyable, and Adarsh came up without much interference. And on a more humanitarian note, it was suggested that the apartments were meant for war widows. The inquiring media were given to understand that the property belonged to the Indian Navy and, therefore, civilian rules did not apply. RTI activists say how the project, which came up in clear violation of CRZ guidelines, got this far needs to be looked at closely during the inquiry process. Mumbai has stringent environment and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) laws. When it was being built, it seemed odd that such a massive structure was allowed to come up so close to a military cantonment and virtually on the city's coastline. South Mumbai is a small area and it is impossible to miss the towering structure in the city's skyline. Construction work on the building has been on since 2003.
The Adarsh Society building did not come up surreptitiously overnight. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started an inquiry into how the prime land, which was marked for Kargil War widows and war veterans, was given to VIPs. More heads are expected to roll as finer details of the scam come to light. Chavan, who continues to claim he had no role in the allotment, was directed by the Congress high command to submit his resignation. His family members resigned from the society soon after the scam was exposed. Chavan's mother-in-law and sister-in-law are said to have bought apartments in the society. Heading the list of those allegedly involved in the scam was Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who, as Revenue Minister in June 2000, sanctioned the sale of the flats to civilians.ĭocuments reveal that Chavan recommended allocation of the Colaba land to the housing society after it agreed that 40 per cent of the members would comprise civilians. It was the Right to Information (RTI) tool that helped in exposing the fact that flats in the 31-storey Adarsh Housing Cooperative Society building, meant for families of soldiers killed in the 1999 Kargil War, were allotted to politicians, bureaucrats and military officers. This time the scandal involves illegal ownership of real estate in the upmarket Colaba area in southern Mumbai. Adarsh Housing Cooperative Society apartments in Mumbai.-PAUL NORONHAĪNOTHER scam has rocked Maharashtra and another Chief Minister has been forced to resign.