Adarsh on land sought for army rest house?

Was the land where Adarsh society stands today once sought for the construction of an army rest house?

During the ongoing hearing before the two-member Adarsh inquiry commission, ministry of defence counsels AJ Rana and Aniket Nikam on Friday showed the superintendent of city survey and land records (Mumbai city), Sanjay Dikhle, the correspondence between the army and the collectorate. In this, permission was sought to build a rest house for army personnel on the land between Captain Prakash Pethe Marg and the BEST bus depot.

Dikhle had earlier admitted that the land occupied by Adarsh is sandwiched between Captain Prakash Pethe Marg and the bus depot. But he failed to answer whether the land that was sought is the same as the Adarsh plot. In 1985, the Bombay City Sainik Welfare Board had applied to the collectorate for the said plot to develop an army rest house. The proposal was rejected on the grounds that the said plot was reserved for road widening. The counsel representing the ministry of defence stressed on the point that the said plot existed since the British period and was not reclaimed — something that the state government has suggested.

Meanwhile, the commission will start the cross-questioning of Mumbai collector CV Oak from today. Oak’s deposition will be important, as all three former chief ministers whose names have come up in the scam have put the blame on the collector’s office.