Author: S Balakrishnan
Publication: The Times of India
Date: November 1, 2010
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Chavan-camp-trains-gun-on-Deshmukh-Shinde/articleshow/6849431.cms
The Adarsh housing scam now threatens to rock
the Union cabinet. Even as Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar
Shinde are eyeing the Maharashtra chief minister's post, supporters of chief
minister Ashok Chavan say that, leave alone being considered for the state's
top post, these two leaders should be asked to step down from the Union ministry.
They say that if Chavan is asked to step down
even though he had only a "minor role'', then Deshmukh and Shinde, during
whose chief ministerships the bulk of the processing occurred, should also
quit their posts.
The CM's camp has prepared a note detailing
the alleged roles played by Deshmukh and Shinde in the controversial land
allotment. This note is part of a dossier which will be given to Union ministers
Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony who have been asked by Congress president
Sonia Gandhi to ascertain the facts of the case.
Along with this note, 11 letters vital to
this land deal will be attached as exhibits. The CM's camp says Adarsh society
had asked for land in Colaba in 1999 when Narayan Rane was chief minister
of the Shiv Sena-BJP government. Later it made the request to the new Congress
CM, Vilasrao Deshmukh, on February 7, 2000. Deshmukh endorsed the letter and
ordered that the proposal be put up immediately. The government asked the
Mumbai collector for his report, which was submitted on May 12, 2000.
The collector's report stated that this was
state government land and constituted a part of a road alignment in unauthorised
possession of the army. The army later gave an NOC on April 5, 2000 on the
grounds that the land was outside the defence boundary. The Urban Development
department, headed by Deshmukh, reduced the width of the proposed road from
60 m to 18 m on April 10, 2002, thereby earmarking land in a residential zone
which was then processed for allotment. The file for granting the letter of
intent was processed by the revenue department and approved by then CM Deshmukh
on his last day in office, January 18, 2003.
The UD department later, headed by the new
CM Sushilkumar Shinde, wrote to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests
seeking clarification on the CRZ issue. The Union ministry, vide its letter
on March 11, 2003, stated that the powers were delegated to the state government.
Accordingly, Shinde asked the BMC to permit construction. The land allotment
to the society was approved with 20 members initially by an order dated July
9, 2004 by then revenue minister Shivajirao Nilangekar Patil and then CM Shinde.
Shinde also approved the next list of 51 members
vide his order dated August 24, 2004. He also delegated powers to the Mumbai
collector on September 20, 2004, to approve new members.
Deshmukh, who succeeded Shinde as CM, then
sanctioned the use of the FSI of the adjacent BEST depot land by Adarsh by
an order dated August 5, 2005. Thus the society was given building permission
for an original 3,824 sq m and an additional 2,669 sq m by the BMC on September
23, 2005.
The note says that the land was never ever
reserved for war widows or war heroes leave alone those affected by the Kargil
war. The original application does not mention Kargil widows, but only in
a follow-up letter in June 2006 a request was made to accommodate some of
them in the society which was approved by the government.
Chavan says that only the file for granting
a Letter of Intent was routed through him when he was the revenue minister
and it was finally approved by Deshmukh.
