Mumbai:
The Adarsh case will now be heard by the Bombay High Court on August 3. The court today asked Adarsh society to file its reply to an application filed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) yesterday. In that application the MoD stated that the disputed land was in possession of the Indian Army and it has been illegally occupied by the Maharashtra government. On August 3, Adarsh society is expected to furnish ownership details of the land.
The Bombay High Court has been hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the matter and is expected to decide if the CBI can investigate in the case.
The issue has become the bone of contention between the CBI and the Maharashta state government. While the state government says they have already set up an inquiry panel looking into the case, the CBI says they were brought in to investigate, by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) because the land in question belonged to the central Defence Ministry. The court is expected to decide if the
Earlier this month, the state filed an affidavit in the Court challenging the jurisdiction of the CBI in probing the case. The affidavit stated that the Maharashtra government had not made any specific request to the CBI to look into the case. They stated that in spite of that, on specific written requests, the government has made available all relevant documents and have extended support to the CBI. The state government also said they have appointed two member judicial commission and the interim report submitted by that panel states that the land belongs to the them. In June, the commission had questioned three former chief ministers of Maharashtra - Sushil Kumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan - in connection with the scam.
The CBI on the other hand has continued with its investigation and filed a 10,000 page charge sheet in the case indicting former chief minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chavan and 13 others.
The scam broke in 2010 when it emerged that on a prime plot in South Mumbai, an illegal 104-apartment society had come up in which key Defence personnel, bureaucrats, and politicians owned flats. It later emerged these men had colluded to grab a Defence plot and got it an illegal environmental clearance. It also got other concessions by claiming Kargil war heroes and widows were part of the society.