The state government has finally appointed a committee to probe the Adarsh Housing Society scam. A two-member committee will be headed by retired high court judge J.A. Patil. Former chief secretary of the state P. Subramaniam will assist him in the probe into the various irregularities in the Adarsh scam. The committee, formed under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1951, will be looking into almost every aspect of the scam. It will submit its report on the irregularities as well as recommendations to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future. The committee is expected to submit the report in three months’ time.
The state chief minister, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, on Saturday declared at the Sahyadri Guesthouse that the state had taken a decision to appoint the committee as promised on the floor of both the state Legislature houses during the Winter Session at Nagpur. He pointed out that the state had appointed the committee within a month’s time since the promise was made in the house and also assured that the committee would do its job in stipulated time while the other inquiries in the matter would continue in a parallel manner.
There was a fear expressed by the Opposition and some of the ruling party legislators that the state government would restrict the powers of the judicial committee which would not be able to probe beyond a stipulated jurisdiction.
However, the chief minister said that the committee to probe the Adarsh Housing Society scam has been given vast powers and a wide jurisdiction.
“The areas that the committee will look into include whose land it was when the building proposal was processed, whether there was any CRZ norms violation, whether the society was meant to accommodate families of the Kargil war heroes, why the width of Prakash Pethe Marg was reduced and under what provisions of the law, etc. It will also probe into the aspect of breach of norms on the issue of the height of the building and change of reservation for BEST depot,” the chief minister said.
The committee will also inquire into the validity of the members of the society, and role played by the politicians and the officials in the alleged irregularities. It will not only look into the reasons and irregularities caused but will also recommend measures to be taken to avoid similar scams in future, said the chief minister.