Adrash Housing Society: Files go missing again
"The files with notings are not available," said advocate Dhiren Shah, counsel, Ministry of Defence, informing the commission which comprised of Justice P Subramanian and retd. JA Patil.
The notings that the file had, carried the communication between AR Kumar, Major General SS Jog and general officer commanding (GOC) of the army HQ (Maharashtra, Gujarat & Goa).
This is the third time that files have gone missing in the Adarsh scam. The first case happened when the files went missing from the state urban development department (UDD). Later the files which were sent to the Union ministry of environment & forests also went missing.
Major General SS Jog, an eyewitness before the jury said that, in Apr 2000 he was told to revert back to the collector that the Adarsh estate did not come under the defence boundary. He further added that he differed on the issue with Kumar and was quiet "disturbed" about the matter.
Jog also told the Adarsh inquiry commission on Tuesday, Jun 14 that the letter to the collector in Apr 2000 said action should be taken because the land was meant for ex-servicemen, their widows and military personnel.
The letter was taken into account as no-objection certificate from the army for the adrash society project, though AR Kumar, general officer commanding, army HQ (Gujarat, Goa & Maharashtra) denied the fact and made notings revealing the fact that Jog told the commission that to seek approval, it was a routine to maintain notings on the interactions between the senior and junior officers. When the same was told to be produced in front of the commission, their unavailability was informed by Shah. Later the Ministry of Defence informed the CBI about the documents which were missing.
Kumar, ex-General Officer Commanding, has been named by the CBI as one of the accused. Kumar was a member of the Adarsh Society.
Dipan Merchant, advocate and counsel for the commission presented a circular that invalidates the army's no-objection letter for the Adrash housing project.
"Any alienation of defence land can only be with the permission of the Union Cabinet and the prime minister," says the 1997 circular.
According to the Army, though it has no proof to show it owns a piece of land in the Adarsh society, claims are that they have been owning the land since 1938.
OneIndia News