The scam pertains to alleged irregularities in construction and
allotment of apartments in the 32-storeyed high rise, originally meant
for families of Kargil war heroes, in the upmarket Colaba area in south
Mumbai. (
link)
* June 28, 2012 -
Vilasrao Deshmukh held the minister of revenue Ashok Chavan responsible for overlooking violations while allotting the land to the Adarsh CHS. While putting up a strong defence, Deshmukh indicated that whenever
faced with any matter relating to Adarsh CHS, be it accommodation of 40%
civilians or CRZ clearance or possession of plot, he would immediately
forward them to the revenue department. Commenting on if he had
seen the letter citing the army’s willingness to part with the land in
its possession for 25-30 years to the collector, Deshmukh said, “As the
matter concerned the revenue department, I made a remark in my own
handwriting in its margin: “M (Rev). Pl, process this and put up” (M
means minister). However, the revenue minister did not get back to me, he said. Deshmukh revealed that he was not advised that MoEF clearance was
required for the proposed reduction of the road’s width and its
conversion from road to residence. Swarup Singh Naik was in charge of
the environment portfolio then.
* June 27, 2012 -
Seeking to absolve himself of culpability in the 'Adarsh' scam, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday passed the buck to former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, saying the "whole" matter was referred to the revenue department for clearance after which the land was allotted. "The whole Adarsh matter pertained to land allotment and was hence
sent to the revenue department as that was the concerned department.
Ashok Chavan was the Revenue Minister then," Deshmukh told the
two-member inquiry commission set up by the state government to go into
the scam.
* June 27, 2012 - Union minister for science and technology
Vilasrao Deshmukh on Tuesday indirectly put the onus of the controversial Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society (CHS) scam on the ministry of revenue and bureaucrats. Deshmukh,
who deposed before the Adarsh commission, said, “The letter pertaining
to Adarsh CHS came up before me for the first time in the year 2000.”
* June 25, 2012 - Seeking to wash his hands off the Adarsh scam, Union Minister of power
Sushil Kumar Shinde told a judicial panel the decision to allot government land and grant of additional FSI to the housing society was taken during the tenure of Vilasrao Deshmukh as Chief Minister.
* June 22, 2012 -
The two-member Adarsh Commission probing the Adarsh Society scam today issued notice to Union Power Minister and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to appear before it as a witness in the case on June 25. Shinde was the chief minister (2001 to 2003) when he cleared many files including allotment of land to Adarsh.
* June 21, 2012 -
Copies of Adarsh documents safe with CBI, Judicial Commission. Amid apprehensions that several important files relating to the Adarsh
Housing Society scam may have been destroyed in today's fire at
'Mantralaya', officials of CBI and the judicial panel probing it said
they have copies of all relevant documents
* June 18, 2012 -
Maharashtra government contested in the Bombay High Court the CBI's jurisdiction to probe the Adarsh Housing scam, nearly a
year-and-a-half after it registered an FIR in the case involving former
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, bureaucrats and retired army officers.
State government's counsel Anil Sakhare told the court that the CBI
did not have the jurisdiction to probe the matter as neither the state
government nor the High Court had handed over the investigation to it.
* June 16, 2012 -
Adarsh Co-Operative Housing Society, sent a letter to the Directorate of Enforcement seeking closure of the inquiry initiated against it based on the report submitted by the judicial panel set up by the Maharashtra government. The letter has been sent to the enforcement directorate’s director in
Delhi, Rajan Katoch and assistant director in Mumbai, NP Khutal. Last
week, the society had written similar letters to the Ministry of Defence
and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
* June 10, 2012 -
The ED has issued summons to nine accused in the Adarsh cooperative housing society scam, who were arrested by the CBI and are presently out on bail. The
ED has asked the accused to remain present before its officials in the
coming week.
* June 9, 2012 -
Adarsh members have approached the Defence Ministry and the CBI seeking quashing of the FIR filed in the alleged multi-crore rupees scam
in the housing society in the wake of a judicial probe of the
Maharashtra government which had stated that the land belonged to the
state and not defence. In a letter written to Defence Minister AK Antony, CBI Director AP
Singh and other senior officials, Manish Deasai, partner of Vidhii law
firm, said, "There is no material on record to show that, the land on
which the Adarsh building stands today belongs to Defence Ministry or
that it was allotted to the society illegally."
* June 7, 2012 -
Former civic chief Jairaj Phatak and ex-state Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, were granted bail by a special CBI court in
Mumbai as the agency failed to file the charge sheet within the stipulated 60-day period
* June 4, 2012 -
Jairaj Phatak and Ramanand Tiwari filed their bail applications. The bail plea filed by
Pathak's lawyer
Swapna Kode
contended that he is entitled to be released as the charge sheet was
not filed within 60 days and the stipulated period came to an end on
June 4.
Tiwari's lawyer
Sadanand Shetty had also contended that he is entitled to get bail on the same grounds.
* June 1, 2012 -
Allegations against former Maha CMs being probed, CBI tells HC in an affidavit, which says that it is thoroughly investigating the allegations made against Union Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde by a social activist, based on the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
* June 1, 2012 -
A meeting of the Public Accounts Committee today saw strong arguments between chairman Murli Manohar Joshi and a Congress member over pursuance of CAG's report on Adarsh Society when an inquiry commission
has declared that the land belongs to the state government. At the first meeting of the newly-constituted PAC, Sanjay Nirupam is
learnt to have said that since the land belongs to the Maharashtra
government, the PAC cannot take up a state subject.
* May 29, 2012 -
Seven accused in the Adarsh Housing Society scam were granted bail by a special court here. The accused were directed to furnish surety of Rs five lakh each and
asked to report to the CBI office in Mumbai on Tuesdays and Thursdays
every week. Of the nine accused, those who secured bail include IAS officer Pradeep
Vyas, former deputy secretary in Urban Development Department PV
Deshmukh, Brigadier (retd) MM Wanchoo, retired Defence Estates Officer
RC Thakur, Major General (Retd) AR Kumar, Major Gen (Retd) TK Kaul and
former MLC Kanhaiyyalal Gidwani.
* May 29, 2012 -
The MoD (Ministry of Defence) sent a notice to the Maharashtra government with the claim
of ownership of the Adarsh land and may file a title suit in either the Bombay High Court or the Supreme
Court for the plot. It has asked the state government to hand over the possession of the land within two months.
* May 28, 2012 - Fourteen accused in the multi-crore Adarsh Housing Society scam might
land in more trouble, as the
CBI told a special court that it might add stringent sections of the IPC, which could attract life imprisonment for them. The CBI told the court that it was likely to add section 409
(criminal breach of trust by public servant) and section 467 (forgery of
valuable security and wills) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the
accused, who could get life imprisonment if convicted under these
sections.
* May 24, 2012 -
In a U-turn, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Thursday told the two-member inquiry commission probing the Adarsh housing society scam he is ready to appear before it on June 30
* May 23, 2012 -
The Adarsh Judicial Commission has directed former Maharashtra chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh to appear before it
on June 21 and 22, and Sushil Kumar Shinde has been told to appear on June
25 and 26
* May 22, 2012 -
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan sought exemption to appear as a witness before the two-member commission
probing the Adarsh housing scam. Chavan was summoned by the
Commission to appear as a witness on May 23.
* May 21, 2012 -
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Shivajirao Nilangekar-Patil deposed before the two-member Judicial Commission, probing the
Adarsh Housing Society scam. He had dealt with proposals submitted by the
scam-tainted society during his tenure as Revenue Minister from January
2003 to July 2004. He told the Commission that the proposals of
the society were expedited as it's chief promoter MLC Kanhaiyalal Gidwani had requested the government to do so.
* April 30, 2012 -
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and 13 others have been slapped with a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) for their alleged involvement in the Adarsh housing scam. "An ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) has been registered
under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on March 5 against
14 persons. The 14 persons are the same who have been named as accused
by CBI in their FIR," senior counsel RV Desai appearing for ED told the
Bombay High Court.
* April 30, 2012 -
The High Court directed CBI and ED to file their reply affidavits to Wategaonkar's allegations
* April 2012 -
Social activist, Pravin Wategaonkar, filed an affidavit before the High Court based on the CAG report alleging that
Deshmukh, former Maharashtra Chief minister, owns two proxy flats in the
scam tainted Adarsh society in south Mumbai. He sought CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to
investigate the role of Deshmukh, Shinde and other politicians and
bureaucrats for alleged irregularities committed by them while showing
favour to Adarsh Society.
* April 18, 2012 -
Army is mulling filing an appeal in the Supreme Court against the report
of the Judicial Commission on the Adarsh Society scam which said the
land on which the multi-storeyed build stands belonged to Maharashtra
government.
* April 17, 2012 -
The judicial commission probing the Adarsh housing scam has said the land on which the controversial skyscraper stands belongs to the state and not the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and that it was not reserved for
Kargil war widows. The interim report of the two-member panel headed by former High
Court Judge JA Patil, which was tabled in the state assembly today by
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, has said the MoD has failed to prove
its ownership of the land.
* April 11, 2012 - The special CBI court in Mumbai, which rejected the bail pleas of
seven accused in the Adarsh Housing Society case on April 4, has observed
that
involvement of high-profile persons affected the pace of the probe. "Because of the high personalities involved, investigation did not take its own pace," observed Special Judge MV Kulkarni.
* April 4, 2012 - The judge rejected the bail applications of former Maharashtra legislator KL Gidwani, bureaucrat Pradeep Vyas, Major General (retd) TK
Kaul, Major General (retd) AR Kumar, Brigadier (retd) MM Wanchoo,
retired Defence Estates Officer RC Thakur and former Deputy Secretary in
state Urban Development Department PV Deshmukh.
* April 3, 2012 -
Former civic chief Jairaj Phatak and ex-state Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, arrested in the Adarsh society scam
* March 28, 2012 -
The country’s defence takes priority over any other matter, said the Bombay high court on Tuesday while hearing the Adarsh co-operative housing society case. It restrained the state and the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation from issuing any permission or clearance to the
building. A division bench comprising justice PB Majumdar and justice RD
Dhanuka directed all parties to maintain status quo. “No steps shall be
taken by (authorities concerned) for issuing no-objection certificate
(NOC), occupation certificate (OC), commencement certificate or any
other permission for development in any manner. Also, no additional
facility should be made available (to the society) until further
orders,” said the court.
* March 23, 2012 -
The Bombay High Court has urged members of the Adarsh housing society to take recourse to reform by surrendering the scam-tainted building and its land to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), taking into account the
security aspect of the issue at hand.
* March 22, 2012 -
Asking scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society to surrender the 31-storey building to the Defence Ministry, the Bombay High Court on Thursday said the structure posed a
threat to sensitive defence installations nearby and lessons had to
learnt from
Mumbai terror attacks.
The court directed BMC and MMRDA to explain during the next hearing on April 30 whether they had considered the security aspect before granting clearance to Adarsh society. "Explain whether
NOC from defence ministry was obtained. The defence ministry shall also point out if
NOC was given then by which department and whether that department had the authority to grant permission," it said.
* March 20 and 21, 2012 - IAS officer Pradeep
Vyas, former deputy secretary in Urban Development Department PV
Deshmukh, Brigadier (retd) MM Wanchoo, retired Defence Estates Officer
RC Thakur, Major General (Retd) AR Kumar, Major Gen (Retd) TK Kaul and
former MLC Kanhaiyyalal Gidwani
arrested
* March 12, 2012 -
The bench severely castigated the CBI for its failure to arrest "high-ranking politicians" in the scam
despite having evidence and directed the investigative agency to act
"without fear or favour".
* March 12, 2012 -
The Bombay High Court exempted the Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) from personally appearing before it on March 12 and instead summoned the Special Director, along with a status report
mentioning the steps that have been taken in the scam-tainted Adarsh
Housing Society probe.
* March 7, 2012 -
CBI arrested one of its own counsels, Mandar Goswami, for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with accused Kanhaiyalal Gidwani and his son to weaken the case.
Goswami, a retainer counsel who began working with the investigative
agency just a few months ago, and JK Jagiasi, a tax consultant who was
known to the Gidwanis and who was arrested for his involvement in the
case last month, were paid Rs1.25 crore through hawala channels, claimed
sources in the CBI. Goswami last represented the CBI in the Adarsh case
on February 28.
* March 4, 2012 -
A private complaint has been filed against NCP MLA, Jitendra Avhad,
in a court in Thane for allegedly failing to disclose in
his affidavit at the time of election that he owned a flat in the
controversial Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai. The complaint, filed by social activist Pravin Wategaonkar before a
magistrate's court in Thane, states that Avhad, who owned a flat in
Adarsh, did not disclose the same in his affidavit accompanying the
nomination form.
* February 28, 2012 -
A division bench of Justice PB Majmudar and Justice RD Dhanuka severely castigated the agency for "serious lapse" on its part and failing to initiate inquiry against the Society members for
money laundering while summoning the ED Director on March 12.
* February 14, 2012 -
Bombay HC slams CBI over Adarsh probe pace. The
CBI, which is probing the alleged scam in the allotment of flats in the
Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society in South
Mumbai for the past 15 months, wants three more months to complete the probe. A division bench of Justices
SA Bobade and R
Dhanuka
of the Bombay high court, however, refused to grant any more time
without the agency making a formal application within two weeks.
* December 17, 2011 -
An important file of the high-rise building committee of Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society was missing from the office of chief engineer of the BMC,when important decisions about the building’s
illegal floors were taken. Former civic chief Jairaj Phatak told the two-member
commission that the original file had not been traced till the time he
was the commissioner, and the BMC did not write to the committee for its
say on the missing file.
* December 16, 2011 - In a severe blow to the claim by Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society
that it had all requisite clearances from the ministry of environment
and forest,
former civic chief Jairaj Phatak admitted that the tower had no Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) clearance. Phatak, on December 15, deposed in front of the two-member commission set up to probe the alleged Adarsh scam
*
July 5, 2011 - The Esplanade court granted bail to three state urban development (UD) officers after
the CBI failed to file a chargesheet within the stipulated 60 days. Gurudatt Wajpe, N N Narvekar and Waman
Rawool, were granted bail
* June 18, 2011 - Former chief minister
Vilasrao Deshmukh absolved himself of any wrongdoing in the Adarsh scam and said all decisions pertaining to the
society were taken in good faith. In a 15-page affidavit submitted on June 17, Deshmukh has indirectly
blamed bureaucrats of the urban development department (UDD) as well as
the revenue department apart from the collector. Former CM Ashok Chavan
was revenue minister then and headed the UDD.
* May 26, 2011 - Former chief minister
Sushilkumar Shinde has washed his hands off the Adarsh controversy, saying the land on which the controversial society was built belongs to the state government. Through his affidavit submitted to the Adarsh Inquiry Commission, the
former Union minister has made a veiled reference to his predecessor
Vilasrao Deshmukh apart from blaming ministers, collectors and
bureaucrats for the irregularities.
* May 5, 2011 - Desk
officer Gurudatt Wajpe, assistant town planner N N Narvekar and Waman
Rawool, then a clerk to the UD principal secretary in custody in connection with a missing file in the Adarsh scam. The file allegedly contained important information on the deletion of
the width of Capt Prakash Pethe Marg in Colaba and the alleged Coastal
Regulation Zone clearance given to the land on which Adarsh stands.
* February, 2011 - Bombay high court handed over the probe to CBI
* January 30, 2011 -
A day after filing an FIR against 13 persons in the Adarsh housing society scandal, the CBI conducted searches at the premises of four accused, including a retired army officer, a Congress leader and a
former state government official. Incriminating documents were seized during the raids and the four may be
summoned for questioning soon. The premises of the society’s general
secretary RC Thakur, retired brigadier MM Wanchoo, Congress leader KL
Gidwani and former principal secretary of the urban development
department Ramanand Tiwari were searched. The office of the Adarsh
society at Colaba was among the places visited by officials.
* January 14, 2011 -
The MoEF had ordered demolition of Adarsh Society for violation of CRZ norms.
* January 3, 2011 -
Maharashtra human rights commission member Subash Lalla tendered his resignation on account of his alleged role in the Adarsh housing scam, thus becoming the first IAS officer from the state cadre
to lose his job. Despite the initial defiance, Lalla gave in to the mounting pressure
from the state government, and submitted his resignation to governor K
Sankaranarayanan. It was immediately accepted.
* November 2010 - Ashok Chavan had to step down as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra following the scam
* October 14, 2009 -
In a meeting, the plan of 28th floor was not approved either by the BMC or MMRDA; but the floor had been built when the meeting took place. “The MMRDA had levied penalty on Adarsh for the
construction of the 28th floor. The penalty was for its regularisation,”
Phatak said.
* September 1, 2007 -
During Phatak's tenure as Commissioner of BMC, he had approved the height to be increased from 97 metres to 107 metres. The CBI has alleged that he had not referred
the height increase to other committee members.
* July 19, 2004 - Letter of Allotment (LOA)
was issued to Adarsh society.
Asked whether due verification about ownership, value of land and eligibility of members had been done before Letter of Allotment (LOA) was issued to the society on July 19, 2004, Shinde said, "I did not approve the Adarsh file immediately. Before issuing LOA, I sent it back
to the Collector for verification of eligibility of the 51 members and
asked the file to be put up before me after due verification."
* July 2, 2004 -
Shivajirao Nilangekar-Patil during his tenure as Revenue Minister approved the valuation of the land in question at Rs10,19,19,652 after approval from the then
chief minister. "The valuation was approved first by the Finance
Department and sent to Revenue Department. After getting approval from
the chief minister, I approved the valuation of the land" he said.
* January 18, 2003 -
The decision to allot the land in question to Adarsh society was takenwhen Vilasrao Deshmukh was the Chief Minister. The Letter of Intent (LOI) was issued in favour of Adarsh on the morning of January 18, 2003. "It was not issued under my
instructions and it was never brought to my notice," Sushil Kumar Shinde has said.
* January 15, 2003 - Vilasrao Deshmukh resigned as Chief Minister
* April 10, 2002 - Government
notification dropped the proposal to increase the width of Captain Prakash Pethe Marg (adjoining Adarsh) from 18.40 metres to
60.97 metres
* March 3, 2000 -
About the second letter from the promoter on March 3, 2000, Deshmukh said, “I do not remember seeing this letter.” However, he admitted that
the remarks made in the margin of the letter which read “Sec (UD) pl.
put up” was in his own handwriting. “When I received the letter, I did
not check up the situation and status of the land sought for, as it was
the duty of the Collector to look after the same.” The second letter had sought the land for the military officers’ CHS —Adarsh CHS — in Block VI in Colaba division
* February 7, 2000 -
Chief promoter of Adarsh CHS Kanhayalal Gidwani had sent a letter dated February 7, 2000 to the CM in connection with the allotment of the government land. “I started looking into the Adarsh issue when I saw the
letter. I made a remark in my handwriting on the letter and it reads:
principal secretary (revenue) pl. call for the proposal and put up
immediately,” the former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said.
###TO BE UPDATED...###
