Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday clarified that unless the Bombay high court orders otherwise, the controversial Adarsh society building in Colaba will be demolished.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday clarified that unless the Bombay high court orders otherwise, the controversial Adarsh society building in Colaba will be demolished.
The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) had issued a demolition notice to the society after the scam was unearthed last year. The society moved court against the MoEF order and the next hearing in the petition is slated for April 13. The three-month deadline lapses on April 14. Chavan said that if the HC does not restrain the government and the MoEF does not revoke its notice, the state will go ahead with the razing.
“We checked the provision in the Environment Protection Act, which does not designate any power to the state government to take a decision on the demolition. The implementation of the order is the responsibility of the state government and we will have no option but to go ahead with the action after the court ruling,” he said.
The Adarsh issue came for the discussions in the lower house of the state assembly during the question hour.
Replying to the question about the status of the missing file related to Adarsh society, Chavan said that the file tracking system has revealed the details of the movement of the files. Three pages with very important notings went missing from the file.
“The crime branch of Mumbai police, while probing the file missing issue, had asked for a narco test on four officials from the urban development department, but by the time the case was handed over to the CBI. The papers that have gone missing have important notings written between 2000 and 2003. I am sure that the investigating agency will book the persons responsible for the misplacement,” he said.
Leader of opposition Eknath Khadse asked the government why action against officials involved in the Adarsh scam was not being taken. He said their suspension was necessary as they may tamper with proofs. Khadse also alleged that most of the officials have lied in their replies given to the notice by the government asking them to clear their stand in the case.
“The reply submitted by the officials has been handed over the two member enquiry commission. Action would be taken against the officials if the commission finds them guilty,” he said.
Chavan informed the house that the voluntary retirement application of Uttam Khobragade has been turned down by the government. “In civil service rules, the IAS officers have a right to apply for voluntary retirement, but the government has the right to reject it,” he said. Khobragade, whose daughter Devyani is one of the members of the society, had applied for voluntary retirement soon after he was transferred from the tribal development department recently.
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