Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: The Comptroller and Accounting General of India’s (CAG) report on alleged irregularities in the construction of Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai was tabled in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The CAG report, which indicts defence estate office and local military authorities in the scam, says, “Military authorities showed extraordinary urgency in giving the NOC (No Objection Certificate) to the project”.
It further stated that officials misappropriated government land to benefit a chosen few.
The CAG report named two former Army chiefs General Deepak Kapoor and General NC Vij in the scam along with Maharashtra Principal Secretary.
The report stated that, “General Deepak Kapoor and General NC Vij clearly had conflict of interest in the case.”
The report is likely to stir a storm as the initial inquiries have already led to the ouster of Ashok Chavan as chief minister.
The report is likely to embarrass the Congress government, which is already facing a spade of corruption charges related to the 2G spectrum allocation scam, CWG scam, etc.
Importantly, this is not the first investigative report in the Adarsh housing scam case.
Earlier, a Defence Ministry probe had ''prima facie'' found a ''criminal conspiracy'' in the controversial Adarsh Housing Society project in Mumbai, where several former service chiefs, politicians and bureaucrats were allegedly given flats at throwaway prices.
The probe, ordered by Defence Minister AK Antony had also "not ruled out" collusion of some officers with the high rise promoters, sources said here today.
The Defence Ministry, sources said, is determined that all those guilty of wrongdoing in the episode are not spared and a decision on the matter will be taken within 10 days before Parliament's Winter Session begins on November nine.
Defence Ministry sources said there were some loose ends in the case such as the ownership of the land, apart from seeking and obtaining no-objection for construction of the high rise, though the Army had been in "de facto" possession of the prime 6,490-sq mt plot of land in upscale Colaba for over 60 years before the 31-storey Adarsh Society building came up there in 2003.
The probe also established that the building posed a major security concern, as cited by Western Naval Commander Vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin in his July 2010 letter seeking action against the building, the promoters and the officers involved in overlooking the construction itself since 2003.
First Published: Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 14:00