Union minister for power Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday deposed before the Adarsh inquiry commission. He told the panel that the decision to allot government land to the cooperative society and to grant additional FSI was taken during the tenure of Vilasrao Deshmukh.
Mr Shinde also claimed that the Letter of Intent (LOI) was issued to the society in the morning on January 18, 2003 while he took the oath as CM in the evening on the same day.
In his deposition, Mr Shinde said, “Mr Deshmukh was my predecessor and the outgoing CM in 2003. The decision to allot the land to the Adarsh CHS was taken prior to my becoming the CM. I was not consulted on the issue of the LOI.”
When the commission’s counsel asked Mr Shinde if rules were flouted by granting additional Floor Space Index to the society, he said, “The additional FSI to Adarsh society was not granted during my tenure.”
Mr Shinde was the CM till November 1, 2004 and the Letter of Allotment was issued to the Adarsh CHS on July 9, 2004. Mr Shinde admitted that it was brought to his notice when he approved the LOA that the society had not obtained the clearance of the ministry of environment and forests, which was a requirement as per the LOI. He added that he approved the LOA, but had mentioned that the MoEF clearing was still pending.
Mr Shinde further said that the LOI granted to the society was attached with a list of 71 members and after verification only 20 members were found to be eligible.
“I found that the eligibility of 51 members would have to be checked and the file was sent back,” he said.