The Environment and Forest Ministry on Monday told the Bombay high court that it is considering giving the controversial Adarsh Society a fresh hearing against the demolition order and will file an affidavit within two weeks.
A week after claiming that high ranking officials from the Ministry of Defence were targeting the Adarsh society as they were not granted membership, the society has now trained its gun on former army chief V K Singh, accusing him of being behind the "plot" to "settle scores with his predecessors".
Adarsh Society's members have approached the defence ministry and the Central Bureau of Investigation, seeking quashing of the FIR filed in the alleged multi-crore scam in the housing society, in the wake of a judicial probe of the Maharashtra government which had stated that the land belonged to the state and not the defence forces.
This is not the first time IFS officer Devyani Khobragade has found herself under the scanner, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
The Centre gave an assurance to the court that the building would not be demolished.
Members of the controversial Adarsh Housing Society on Monday approached the Bombay high court, challenging the cancellation of the Occupation Certificate and the cut in electricity and water supply. The Society's occupation certificate was cancelled by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and its power and water supplies were cut by the civic body on November 3 after it was revealed that the building was constructed in alleged violation of civic rules.
Adarsh Kumar, a Class 12 student from a farmer's family in Bihar, has been shortlisted among the top 10 students in the world for the Chegg Global Student Prize 2025.
Alleging that all government authorities were ganging up on Adarsh Housing Society, the society's counsel on Friday told the Bombay High Court that the Ministry of Environment and Forests had cleared various construction projects in the city without insisting for a clearance from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority.
In an attempt to put forth their version, the Adarsh Housing Society, which has been embroiled in a scam over alleged irregularities, has launched a website giving out details of the society and how they procured permissions from the Maharashtra government.
The Bombay High Court asked the controversial Adarsh Housing Society to submit a list of its original members, as well as that of existing members.
Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said action against Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai for violation of green norms will be taken in the next two-three days.
The ruling Congress in Maharashtra has cut a sorry figure after its leader, former chief minister Ashok Chavan, has been chargesheeted in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
The fate of Mumbai's scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society, which is facing a threat of demolition for allegedly violating green norms, is expected to be decided by the environment ministry by the this week-end "The ministry is likely to announce its final decision on Adarsh by Friday," said an official source.
Eighteen-year-old Adarsh Kumar from India, who founded Skillzo, a skill-building and mentorship start-up for less privileged students, is the winner of the Chegg Global Student Prize this year.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has sought information on the row over the allotment of a prime plot of land to Adarsh co-operative housing society but it has now emerged that the members include his late mother-in-law Bhagwati Manoharlal Sharma. Chavan was unavailable for comment. The name of Sharma, who died in July, appears in the official list submitted by the society whose beneficiaries include former services chiefs, politicians and bureaucrats.
'Theatrics replace analysis. Public spectacle takes the place of public service.'
The 31-storey Adrash Housing Society building should be demolished within three months, the Environment Ministry recommended on Sunday while holding that the scam-tainted project in Mumbai's upmarket Colaba was "unauthorised" and violated the spirit of coastal regulations.
Starting a blame game, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said it was Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan as the then Revenue Minister who asked the controversial housing society involved in a scam in Mumbai to change the bye-laws to include civilians in it.
t also stayed the order for 12 weeks to enable Adarsh Housing Society to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.
Former Congress legislator Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, who was chargesheeted in the Adarsh Society scam, died in Mumbai on Tuesday following a brief illness.
Union Minister for Rural Development and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday said the land for the controversial Adarsh Society belonged to the state and was never reserved for defence personnel or Kargil war heroes. In an affidavit filed before the two-member Adarsh Commission, set up to probe irregularities in the scam-tainted Adarsh Society, Deshmukh said, "The records clearly show that the land belonged to the state government."
Acting on the Supreme Court's order, the Army has begun the process of taking over the possession of the scam-tainted Adarsh building at Colaba in South Mumbai.
The Bombay high court slammed the CBI for not initiating action against government officials involved in the Adarsh society land scam.
Shinde was the chief minister of Maharashtra from 2001 to 2003 when he cleared many files including allotment of land to Adarsh.
Reacting to the Environment Ministry's decision to demolish the 31-storey Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai, the society's counsel, Satish Maneshinde on Sunday said that the tenor of the order is completely malafide.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has claimed to have found incriminating documents pertaining to the Adarsh Housing Society from the premises of senior Indian Administrative Service officer and former Mumbai civic chief Jairaj Phatak.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had issued directions to submit in 2003 a proposal regarding ownership of the land where the controversial Adarsh Housing Society stands, despite knowing that there was a park constructed by the Army there, City Collector Chandrashekhar Oak told a judicial panel on Wednesday. "A letter was sent by the then collector on August 26, 2003 regarding the allotment of land of Khukri Park to Adarsh Society," Oak said.
Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat who is at the centre of a diplomatic row with the United States, is one of the 25 allottees who have been found ineligible to own a flat in the controversial Adarsh Housing society by a judicial panel which probed the scam.
The Indian Army on Saturday ordered a court of inquiry into the Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai and the alleged role of senior serving and retired officers, including Major General R K Hooda, in it.
Contradicting Ashok Chavan, the promoter of scam-tainted Adarsh Society on Monday said the former Maharashtra chief minister himself had suggested increase in the number of civilians in the society, which was essentially meant for defence personnels.
Mumbai collector Chandrashekar Oak on Saturdyu stated before the judicial panel probing the Adarsh Society scam that the land on which the building stands belonged to the Maharashtra government, and it is not a security threat to the nearby defence installations.
Maharashtra Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari continues to attend office despite the state government recommending his suspension and barring him from remaining present in office till the inquiry into the Adarsh housing scam gets over."I continue to attend office as I have not got any communication from the state government asking me not to attend office," said Tiwari, a retired IAS officer, whose son owns a flat in Adarsh society.
Contesting Environment Ministry's show-cause notice, Mumbai's scam-hit Adarsh Housing Society on Monday demanded an immediate end to proceedings against it, insisting that it had got all the required clearances and the contention otherwise was "misplaced and incorrect".
A day after registering a case in the Adarsh housing society scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday carried out searches at various premises in Maharashtra and Bihar that belong to the three main accused named in the FIR. The searches were conducted at the residences and other places of the society's general secretary R C Thakur, retired Brigadier M M Wanchoo and Congress leader K L Gidwani in various parts of Maharashtra and Bihar.
The controversial Adarsh Society in South Mumbai on Tuesday moved the Bombay high court seeking de-freezing of its two bank accounts.
The Central Bureau of India on Thursday gave a clean chit to Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Pinning the blame on former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, suspended state information commissioner and Adarsh Housing Society scam accused Ramanand Tiwari has told the judicial panel probing the case that it was Deshmukh who had approved all proposals pertaining to the high rise in south Mumbai.
Two months after initiating a preliminary inquiry, CBI had on January 29 registered an FIR against 13 people, including Chavan, retired army officials, bureaucrats and state government officials on charges of criminal conspiracy, fraud and misuse of their official powers.
Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday told the judicial panel probing the Adarsh Society Housing scam that the land where the controversial building stands belongs to the Maharashtra government and was never reserved for defence personnel or Kargil war heroes.
Seven accused in the Adarsh scam have moved the Bombay High Court stating the Enforcement Directorate's case against them for money laundering is not "sustainable" as provisions of anti-money laundering law were not in force at the time of commission of the alleged offence.
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