Deshmukh passes buck to Chavan in Adarsh scam

Former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who deposed before the two-member inquiry commission set up by the state government to probe into the Adarsh scam, denied having any hand in it.

According to reports, Deshmukh told the probe panel that he had signed the files related to Adarsh Housing Society only after their  clearance by the state's revenue and the finance ministry.

The senior Congress leader informed the commission that when the files of the controversial society came to his table they had already been cleared by the then revenue minister Ashok Chavan and the finance minister Jayant Patil.

He also reportedly told the panel that his approval of the Adarsh file came only following clearance by the two ministers concerned.

The former Maharashtra chief minister made the revelation before the commission, in the second day of his deposition today.

Earlier, union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, in his deposition before the panel had deposed that the decision to allot government land and grant of additional FSI to the housing society was taken during the tenure of Vilasrao Deshmukh as chief minister.