Govt supports paperless office, Adarsh files missing

Mumbai, May 14: Some more files pertaining to the controversial Adarsh Housing Society here have gone missing, this time from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in New Delhi, a senior CBI official said on May 14.

"Files which include letters issued by the Environment Ministry to the state government regarding Coastal Regulation Zone norms, and asking the society to approach the appropriate state government department for clearance, have gone missing," the official said.

The matter came to the light when a CBI official visited MOEF office in Delhi last week, seeking copies of the letters. "The ministry officials said the files are untraceable. We have now asked them to give us a complaint in writing after which further course of action would be decided," the official said.

Last year, some files pertaining to the society had gone missing from the Maharashtra Urban Development Department (UDD) and three officials from the UDD were arrested in this connection on May 5.

The missing files from MOEF also contain the society''s proposal, forwarded by the state government to the Union Ministry, seeking CRZ clearance for construction. The ministry had replied stating that since the plot fell in CRZ, permission was required from Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA).

The construction of the building allegedly violated CRZ norms, and it allegedly got additional FSI in breach of many rules. CBI is probing the scam, which came to light last September.

After the controversy broke last year, four pages of a file on Adarsh, pertaining to the deletion of a nearby road from civic plans for giving more FSI to the society, and CRZ clearances, was found to be missing from state UDD office.

PTI