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No demolition, Supreme Court asks Centre to 'secure' Adarsh apartments

Refusing to allow the housing society to "handle" the affairs of apartments, the bench asked the Centre to ensure that nobody enters the premises and that the building is secured.

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The scam-tainted 31-storey Adarsh apartments in Mumbai's posh Colaba locality will not be demolished. The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to take over the apartments, built for Kargil war heroes and war widows, within a week's time.

Appearing before a bench headed by justice J Chelameshwar, solicitor general Ranjit Kumar, on behalf of the Centre, assured the court that there won't be any coercive action against the building. "We will secure the building and the land and there will be no demolition," he assured the bench, which also issued notices on a batch of pleas, filed against the High Court order by the housing society and some allottees.

"There shall be no interim order... except the fact that the Government of India will take possession of the building in question and secure it within one week from today," the bench said while seeking the response from the Maharashtra government and Centre on the society's plea challenging the Bombay High Court's April 30 order.

Refusing to allow the housing society to "handle" the affairs of apartments, the bench asked the Centre to ensure that nobody enters the premises and that the building is secured.

The court also asked the registrar general of the Bombay High Court to be present when the Army secures possession of the society.

Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the society, pleaded for a stay on the High Court order saying that at present the building is "uninhabitable" as the water and electricity supply have been cut.

Earlier, the High Court had ordered demolition of the apartments and had sought initiation of criminal proceedings against politicians and bureaucrats for 'misuse' of powers, holding that the tower was illegally constructed.

The solicitor general said that the building in question is built on Defence land and that the director of Military Estate or his nominee will take over its possession.

The High Court, while ordering demolition, had given 12 weeks' time for the housing society to challenge the verdict in a higher court.

The HC had also asked the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to carry out the demolition at the expense of Adarsh Society. It also wanted the Centre and Maharashtra governments to consider initiating civil and criminal proceedings against bureaucrats, ministers and politicians for misuse and abuse of power to get plots under the scheme.

The Adarsh scam kicked up a huge political storm after it surfaced in 2010, leading to the resignation of the then Congress chief minister Ashok Chavan.

The case so far

2010 - Adarsh scam comes to light, resulting in then CM Ashok Chavan's resignation.
2011 - State govt sets up 2-member judicial panel to inquire into the scam.
2013 - Panel report holds 25 illegal allotments, including 22 purchases, made by proxy.
2013 - The CBI, the I-T dept and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) too initiate probe.
2016 Feb - Maharashtra Governor accords sanction to the CBI to prosecute Chavan.
2016 April - Bombay HC orders demolition of the illegal structure.

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