Decision on Adarsh demolition after CBI report: Antony

January 20, 2011 20:52 IST
After the Environment Ministry recommended demolition of the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai, Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday said he would take a decision on the issue after getting the Central Bureau of Investigation report. "We will take a decision after the CBI inquiry is over," he told mediapersons in New Delhi.
Antony was asked if the defence ministry had decided anything on the fate of the scam-tainted building in view of the recommendations made by the environment ministry and the army's southern command.
The CBI, which is probing the scam, is also likely to give its recommendations as to whether the building constructed next to a sensitive naval base is a security threat and whether it should be demolished or given to the defence ministry for public use. The defence ministry had recommended a CBI probe after it emerged that flats were allotted to several senior serving and retired military personnel including three former service chiefs.
On Sunday, the environment ministry recommended that the 31-storey building be demolished within three months as the project in Mumbai's upmarket Colaba was "unauthorised" and violated coastal regulations.
Asked if the defence ministry had taken any decision on recommending a CBI probe in the Kandivli land scam, Antony said, "Not yet, because it has to be studied in detail. We don't want to jump to conclusions. After careful examination, wherever we find something, then only we will act."
The land scam in Mumbai allegedly involves former minister of state for defence production Rao Inderjit Singh and former army chief General Deepak Kapoor.
The two have been accused of facilitating the sale of land belonging to the Army in Mumbai's Kandivli-Malad area to a private builder. Southern Army Commander Lieutenant General Pradeep Khanna, in a report to Army Chief General V K Singh, has said that land which was under the defence ministry since 1942, has been "illegally" sold to private realtors.
Commenting on the progress made in the issue related to a secret file, which was recovered from a roadside in New Delhi, Antony said, "I think within a few days we will finalise the report. The Indian Air Force feels that it has nothing to do with the process."
The IAF had submitted its report with the defence ministry on Monday after completing its court of inquiry and had given a clean chit to its officials.
Decision on Adarsh demolition after CBI report: Antony

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HRD said no to IGNOU doctorate for Gen Kapoor
Former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, now in the dock over the Adarsh housing scam besides a series of other defence land scams, has been denied an honorary doctorate that a Central government-run university wanted to confer on him.
A Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Indian Express has revealed that while the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) had submitted a proposal seeking to confer an honorary doctorate on the former Army chief, the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry in December last year shot down the proposal terming it inappropriate. The move comes even as a series of allegations have been surfacing against General Kapoor over the past few months questioning his role in the Kandivali land transfer scam, Sukna land scam and most notably in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
As per established procedures, Central universities have to route their proposals on conferring of honorary doctorates to the HRD Ministry with complete information on the proposed candidates. In case of any foreigner or a significant personality being considered for awarding a doctorate by a government institution, political clearance is also required. Once cleared by the government, the same proposal is sent to the President — who is Visitor to all Central universities — to be signed before the varsity is deemed to have been permitted to confer the said doctorate.
HRD said no to IGNOU doctorate for Gen Kapoor