M A I N   N E W S

Army orders probe into Adarsh scam

New Delhi, December 11
The Army on Thursday 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 RK Hooda, in it.

“Yes, a court of inquiry has been ordered into the Adarsh Society episode and certainly Major General R K Hooda figures among those who will be examined,” a senior officer in the Army headquarters here told PTI.

The Army’s Pune-based Southern Command headquarters ordered the probe to find out how these officers had issued a No-Objection Certificate to the private housing society to construct a 31-storeyed complex on a plot in Kolaba. Maj Gen Hooda was the Mumbai-based Area Commander for Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. The 104-apartment society got embroiled in a controversy after the Navy had raised concerns over security as the building over-looked important military installations. Defence Minister AK Antony had on December 9 ordered a CBI probe to fix responsibility of the armed forces and defence estates officers in the housing society scam.

The Congress leadership had also removed Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. Antony had asked the CBI to look into the circumstances under which an NoC was issued to the Housing Society to construct the building on a piece of land, which was in the "de facto" possession of the Army.

The probe agency was also asked to investigate into the commitments made for allotment of flats in the society for Kargil widows and martyrs' families. Former Army Chiefs General Deepak Kapoor and General N C Vij, apart from former Navy Chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh had flats allotted in their names in the housing society. Soon after the scam came to light, the Defence Ministry had asked the Army, Navy and the defence estates to submit a report on the issue. — PTI