Prithviraj Chavan declines to comment on resignations of bureaucrats involved in Adarsh society scam

Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan today declined to comment on reports that former state bureaucrats Ramanand Tiwari and Subhash Lala had refused to quit their present posts after being asked by the state government for their alleged involvement in the Adarsh Housing scam.

"The chief secretary JP Dange was asked to meet them to elicit certain information. I will not comment on that," Chavan told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

To a question on his statement published in a Mumbai-based daily that Tiwari and Lala had been asked to resign on moral grounds and the government will start the legal process of their removal if they fail to quit, Chavan said, "Maybe I was wrongly quoted. I have never said such a thing."

Tiwari, currently the state information commissioner, was the state urban development secretary while Lala, who is presently state human rights commission member, was secretary in the chief minister's office when the Adarsh housing society file was being processed in Mantralaya.

Families of both former bureaucrats own flats in the controversial society situated in the posh Colaba area of South Mumbai.

When asked who will head the probe committee into the Adarsh scam which he had announced in Nagpur, Chavan said the government will shortly take a decision.

To a question on the controversy over removal of statue of Dadoji Konddev, considered guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj from Lal Mahal in Pune, Chavan said the decision was taken by the Pune Municipal Corporation. "I am seeking information into the issue," he added.