The much-hyped 'clean chit' to Congress leader Ashok Chavan is particularly embarrassing as the party had been forced to sack him after the Adarsh scam surfaced, says Anita Katyal
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, whose name has been linked to a property scam related to the Adarsh Society in Colaba, Mumbai, attempted to clarify his stand on Friday.
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.
The state government told the Bombay High Court that it will set up a commission of inquiry to probe the Adarsh Society Housing scam in Mumbai.
The defence ministry on Friday filed a title suit before the Bombay high court seeking claim on the land on which the scam-hit Adarsh Housing Society building stands, alleging the residential complex has been constructed 'illegally and unlawfully'.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday did not name former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan in the benami property related to purchase of flat in the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai.
Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday filed its charge sheet in the Adarsh scam, the Bombay high court allowed ministry of defence to submit within two weeks its response to Maharashtra government's claim that the central agency had no jurisdiction to probe it.
Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse on Thursday said that Adarsh Commission's report had not given a clean chit to former Maharashtra Chief Ministers in the scam.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, named an accused in the Adarsh housing society scam, on Monday continued pointing fingers at his predecessor and Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for decisions taken while allotting land to the controversial housing society.
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".
Chavan, who had to step down as Chief Minister soon after the alleged scam surfaced in November 2010, is one of the 14 accused in the case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing several irregularities and violation of rules in construction of the 31-storeyed building in upscale Colaba.
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The Bombay high court on Thursday said it would hear the application filed by a social activist seeking to make Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde an accused in the Adarsh housing society scam after the Central Bureau of Investigation completes its probe into the alleged benami transactions.
Maharashtra government on Monday contested in the Bombay high court the CBI's jurisdiction to probe the Adarsh Housing scam, nearly a year-and-a-half after it registered an FIR in the case involving former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, bureaucrats and retired army officers.
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In a U-turn, former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan on Thursday told the two-member inquiry commission probing the Adarsh housing society scam that he is ready to appear before it on June 30. Chavan, an accused in the Adarsh case, had on May 22 sought exemption from appearance before the judicial panel.
Union Minister Milind Deora on Tuesday disagreed with Maharashtra government's rejection of the judicial commission of inquiry report on Adarsh Housing scam which indicted several politicians including three former chief ministers for "blatant violations".
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The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to file chargesheet against diplomat Devyani Khobragade and her father Uttam Khobragade in the Adarsh Housing scam for allegedly acquiring a flat on the basis of false affidavit.
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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.
'Chavan's political clout began declining since his Lok Sabha defeat in 2019.'
Maharashtra Industries Minister and Congress leader Narayan Rane on Wednesday claimed that had not taken any decision regarding the controversial Adarsh Housing Society during his tenure as the chief minister. Making a suo-motu statement in the Legislative Assembly in Mumbai, Rane said an application regarding the proposed society had come to him on September 21, 1999. He said he forwarded the application to the revenue department with the remark "submit a report immediately"
Former city collector Pradeep Vyas on Saturday told the judicial panel probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam that the corrigendum issued by Maharashtra government on the ownership and possession of the land on which the society stands, was "factually incorrect". He also conceded that the land was in defence ministry's possession then, contrary to the corrigendum.
Dubbing Rahul Gandhi's utterances on the Adarsh issue as "contrived", Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley on Saturday said his anger is not natural but "manufactured dissent" and queried why it had been "missing" when the 2G, Coal and Commonwealth scams had surfaced.
Maps and some survey sheets pertaining to the Adarsh Housing Society that went missing from the state land records department have been traced, a judicial panel probing the scam was on Tuesday informed.
The special Central Bureau of Investigation court hearing the Adarsh scam on Tuesday received applications from former deputy secretary P V Deshmukh, an accused in the case, and family of another accused former civic body chief Jairaj Phatak seeking to defreeze their bank accounts.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya on Saturday released documents obtained under the Right To Information Act which contradict the claims of politicians that the land on which Adarsh cooperative housing society was built was never intended for defence personnel. Congress Member of Legislative Council Kanhaiyalal Gidwani and former chief minister Ashok Chavan had previously refuted the allegations of any irregularity in the development of the plot.
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.
Some pages from files pertaining to the controversial Adarsh Housing Society have gone missing from the Mumbai-based headquarters of the Ministry of Defence.
Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan on Thursday suspended defiant state Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, who had refused to abide by the government's order to quit for his alleged involvement in the Adarsh Housing scam. "The governor has suspended Tiwari with immediate effect, using powers under Section 17.2 of the RTI Act," a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said. The development comes two days after the governor had made a reference to the Supreme Court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday opposed a petition filed by controversial Adarsh Housing Society seeking defreezing of its bank accounts, saying that the money could be part of "ill-gotten and benami" wealth.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, whose three relatives got flats in Adarsh, on Thursday claimed before the judicial commission probing the scam he came to know of their membership in the housing society only after the news of alleged irregularities was broken by the media.
At least six officials of Maharashtra government have been questioned in connection with the theft of key documents pertaining to the scam-ridden Adarsh housing society, but no breakthrough has been achieved yet, a senior official said on Monday.
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Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan allegedly showed undue favours to scam-hit Adarsh Housing Society and asked its managing committee members to make recommendations for allowing 40 per cent allocation for civilians, according to the FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
After the Environment Ministry recommended demolition of the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai, Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday said he would take a decision on the issue after getting the Central Bureau of Investigation report. "We will take a decision after the CBI inquiry is over," he told mediapersons in New Delhi.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to recommend to the governor the suspension of state Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari for his alleged role in the Adarsh Housing Society scam. Tiwari should not attend office till the inquiry into the scam concludes, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told reporters after a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by him. "For Tiwari to continue in office is not in the interest of the state," said Chavan.
A senior official attached with the Tambaram police commissionerate has been transferred and put under compulsory wait, days after the AR Rahman concert row that among others witnessed traffic snarls which even affected the movement of the Chief Minister's convoy.
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