Adarsh scam: no demolition, Centre to take possession

The scam-tainted 31-storey Adarsh Apartments at Colaba, a posh South Mumbai locality, will not be demolished for the time being, with the Supreme Court on Friday asking the Centre to secure it after taking possession from the housing society by 5 August.

The Supreme Court also asked the centre to take possession and secure the 31-storey controversial Adarsh apartments in Mumbai while setting aside the Bombay High Court order to demolish the building.

The building was originally meant for war veterans and armed forces widows, but it was largely taken over by the families of serving bureaucrats and senior retired armed forces personnel after its height was illegally increased.

On persistent pleas by the Adarsh Housing Society that the Bombay High Court decision ordering demolition be stayed, a bench comprising Justices J Chelemeswar and A M Sapre said that the word "secure" meant that there will be no razing.  

"We will secure the building and the land and there will be no demolition," solicitor general Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, assured the bench which also issued notices on a batch of pleas filed against the High Court order by the housing society and some flat allottees.

"Issue notice. There shall be no interim order ... except the fact that the Government of India will take possession of the building in question and secure it within one week from today," said the bench and later extended time till 5 August saying the possession be handed over on or before the date fixed.

It asked the registrar general of the Bombay High Court to ensure that either he or other registrar, nominated by him, supervises the handing over of the possession of the building.

Simultaneously, an inventory of documents of the housing society pertaining to the apartments must be prepared and be handed over to the housing society to enable him to pursue its legal battles in various courts of law, the bench said.

The Bombay High Court had, in 29 April, ordered demolition of the 31-storey Adarsh apartments close to the sea at Colaba, in Mumbai and initiation of criminal proceedings against politicians and bureaucrats for "misuse" of powers,  holding that the tower was illegally constructed.

However, a division bench of the high court granted 12 weeks interim stay on the demolition order to enable the Adarsh Housing file an appeal in the Supreme Court. The Maharashtra government had opposed the society's plea.

During hearing in the Supreme court, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the society, pleaded for the stay on the high court order saying that at present, the building is "un-inhabitable" as the water and electricity supply have been cut.

"I am willing to argue it out today itself and would show as to where the high court has gone wrong," he said, adding that the case may be heard next Tuesday.

"We are sorry. The case will be heard on its turn. It will have to wait for final hearing," the bench said, adding that it will not allow the housing society to "handle" the affairs of apartments.

The bench further said, "We will say that the Government of India will take control of the building and ensure that nobody enters inside so that the building is secured."

The solicitor general said that the building in question is built on defence land and the director of military estate or his nominee will take over its possession.

The high court, while ordering demolition, had stayed the operation of its order to pull down the building close to the sea at Colaba for 12 weeks to enable the Housing Society to move the apex court with the appeal.

In its order, the HC bench had asked the union ministry of environment and forest to carry out the demolition at the expense of petitioners (Adarsh Society).

It had also asked the centre and Maharashtra government to consider initiating civil and criminal proceedings against bureaucrats, ministers and politicians for misuse and abuse of power to get plots under the scheme, originally meant for Kargil war heroes and war widows.

The Adarsh scam kicked up a huge political storm after it surfaced in 2010, leading to the resignation of the then congress chief minister Ashok Chavan.

In February this year, the Maharashtra Governor accorded sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation to prosecute Chavan under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code in the case.

In 2011, the state government had set up a two-member judicial commission headed by Justice J A Patil to look into the scam.

After probing the issue for over two years, it submitted its report in 2013, which found that there had been 25 illegal allotments, including 22 purchases made by proxy.

Later, the CBI, the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also investigated the scam.

In January 2011, the union ministry of environment and forest had issued a demolition order mainly on the ground that the society did not have CRZ clearance.

Adarsh Society had filed a petition in 2011 in the Bombay High Court challenging the demolition order issued by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The defence ministry also filed a petition in the high court seeking implementation of its demolition order, besides filing a title suit in the high court claiming that it was the owner of the plot on which the plush Adarsh Society building stands in South Mumbai.

The High Court, on 12 March 2012, castigated the CBI for not arresting any of the accused in spite of having evidence and ordered it to take action without fear or favour.

The ED having registered a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, decided to launch attachment proceedings of the flats after going through the latest chargesheet filed by CBI. In a landmark judgement, the Bombay high court on 29 April 2016,ordered the demolition of the building.

Following the Court's criticism, the CBI carried out eight arrests including two retired Major Generals TK Kaul and AR Kumar, retired brigadier MM Wanchoo, former General Officer Commanding(GOC) of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa, Adarsh promoter Kanhaiyalal Gidwani and Pradeep Vyas, the then city collector and currently, finance secretary (expenditure) in thestate government. On 22 March 2012, Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan announced in the legislative assembly that the two IAS officers whose names have figured in the scam, Pradeep Vyas and Jairaj Phatak had been suspended from government service.