State owns Adarsh Society land, says judicial panel

Mumbai, April 17 (IANS) In a major relief to three former chief ministers, a judicial panel probing Adarsh Society scam Tuesday said that the land on which the controversial highrise stands belongs to the state government and was not intended to rehabilitate Kargil war heroes or their relatives.

The interim report by the two-member judicial commission, comprising Justice (retd) J.A. Patil and former state chief secretary P. Subrahmanyam, appointed nearly one-and-half years ago, was tabled in the state legislature here Tuesday afternoon.

'Earlier, this morning, it was discussed at the state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and approved before it was tabled in the legislature,' an official, declining to be identified, told IANS.

The interim report's finding effectively spurns the claim of the defence authorities that the plot of land in the posh Colaba area of south Mumbai belonged to the defence department, and virtually upheld the state government's contention that it was reclaimed from the Arabian Sea in the 1970s.

The commission, which is inquiring into 13 crucial points, submitted its findings on two critical aspects concerning the ownership of the land - where the 31-storeyed building stands - and its reservation for Kargil war heroes or their families.

The report, which claimed the job of former chief minister Ashok Chavan and also raised questions over the role played by his predecessors Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde, who are now union ministers, will submit its final findings on the remaining 11 points later, the official informed.