M A I N   N E W S

2-member panel to probe Adarsh scam
Tribune News Service & PTI

Mumbai, January 8
A two-member committee, headed by a retired judge, will probe the Adarsh Housing Society scam, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said here today. The two-member panel comprising former Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court JA Patil and retired Chief Secretary P Subramaniam has the mandate to look into all aspects of the project, including land ownership, allotment, permissions and environmental violations.

The committee will submit its report within three months. The probe comes days after member of the Maharashtra Human Rights Commission, Subash Lalla, who owned two flats in the name of his wife and daughter, quit his post. The state government has begun the process of removing Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, who owns a flat in his son’s name.

The decision to set up by the two-member judicial commission was announced by the government during the winter session of the legislature last month.

“The commission, which has been set up under the Inquiry Commission Act, would look into the matter of land ownership of Adarsh society, if the land was reserved for Kargil war martyrs, reservation of flats, expansion of (nearby) Prakash Pethe Road, change in reservation of the BEST (civic) plot, violation of Coastal Regulation Zone norms and role of bureaucrats,” Chavan elaborated.

The commission would also make recommendations to avoid any such cases in future, he added. The CM said the state government was serious about probing the "violations" by Adarsh society.

The 31-storeyed society in posh Colaba, south Mumbai, was allegedly built on a plot reserved for Kargil martyrs and flats were alloted to kin of bureaucrats and politicians.

The alleged irregularities surfaced a few months ago and the then Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had to resign over the scam.