Adarsh scam: My orders didn’t benefit son, says former civic chief

Jairaj Phatak, former commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), during his tenure, did not feel it necessary to recuse himself from the file of Adarsh Cooperating Housing Society because his son was its member.

Phatak said this on Wednesday while deposing in front of the two-member commission set up to probe Adarsh scam.
When asked would he not consider it an offence granting favours to the Adarsh CHS, of which his son is a member, Phatak replied in the negative. “If the order does not benefit my son in particular, then it is neither an offence nor a misconduct,” he said.

Phatak told the commission that the Public Works Department (PWD) reclaimed the land in 1975. When asked by counsel for Ministry of Defence Aniket Nikam, how he came to know about it, Phatak pointed at Swadhin Kshatriya, principal secretary, revenue.

“I came to know through Swadhin Kshatriya, who used to meet me often during my morning walks, that the PWD had reclaimed the land,” said Phatak. He said he did not inform in writing to the state chief secretary about his son becoming a member of Adarsh CHS. “I might have verbally informed Johny Joseph who was the then chief secretary about my son’s membership of Adarsh CHS,” he said.