Mumbai: Surprised by the emoluments of Army
top brass as declared by them while procuring flats in Adarsh
Society here, the CBI is approaching the Defence Ministry to
seek clarification on whether an Army Chief was being paid
only Rs 23,450 per month.
The CBI has procured the documents from the Maharashtra
government in which the profiles of all the members of the
controversial housing society were mentioned along with the
monthly income of them, official sources said.
The documents had earlier been made public by an RTI
activist Yogacharya Anandji which showed that then Army Chief
General Deepak Kapoor had shown his salary as Rs 23,450 and
surprisingly around the same time his Lieutenant General
Tejinder Singh had announced his salary as Rs 41,000 a month.
CBI has collected these documents and will write to the
Ministry of Defence seeking details regarding the same, a
senior official said adding, if the officials had filed false
affidavits, action could be taken against them for
"misrepresentation of facts".
Efforts to seek comments from Gen Kapoor did not fructify
as he was not available on phone. Gen Kapoor had earlier
claimed that he paid for the Adarsh Society apartment through
his savings and bank loans.
According to the documents procured under the RTI Act by
Anandji, Kapoor while registering for a flat in the plush
society in south Mumbai, had declared his monthly salary
income as Rs 23,450 only while Singh declared Rs 41,000 as his
monthly income. Former Army chief Nirmal Chander Vij had in
2007 declared his monthly income as Rs 39,825.
The documents have revealed at least 40 out of the 87
proposed Adarsh members declared monthly income of Rs 12,500
or lower as of January 2004 (71-member list) and December 2007
(16-member list). Under a 1999 government resolution,
civilians as well as retired defence and government employees
could not get memberships in societies like Adarsh unless they
earned Rs 12,500 a month or lower. The rule was later relaxed
for a few officers.
Among the income declarations of Rs 12,500 and lower, are
those of Kanishka Pathak, son of ex-BMC chief Jairaj Pathak
who has declared Rs 12,500 a month and Malav Shah, son of
Pune-based builder Jayantilal Shah, who declared Rs 11,000.
Brigadier M M Wanchu, office-bearer of Adarsh, listed his
income as Rs 10,000 a month. Paramveer Sancheti, son of Abhay
Sancheti, chairman of Nagpur-based SMS Infrastructure,
declared his salary as Rs 13,630 a month in 2007.
Kailash Gidwani and Amit Gidwani, sons of former MLC
Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, one of the main promoters of the society,
have declared their monthly income as Rs 12,500 and Rs 11,500
respectively.
Meanwhile, Onkar Tiwari, son of former urban development
secretary and present chief information commissioner Ramanand
Tiwari, said he was in service and declared an amount of Rs
16,667 as his monthly income.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, November 21, 2010, 16:15