Maharashtra Govt. serves notices to 12 bureaucrats

The Maharashtra government has served notices to 12 bureaucrats asking them to reply if they have violated service rules by owing flats in the controversial Adarsh Housing Society,Colaba, originally meant for Indian army’s war heroes.

The bureaucrats, who have been issued the notices include former BMC chief Jairaj Phatak, former Urban Development Secretary Ramanand Tiwari, former Urban Development Deputy Secretary PV Deshmukh and former Chief Secretary DK Shankaran, whose sons got flats.

The notices have been sent by General Administration Department headed by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

The apartment was originally planned to be a six-storey structure to house the Kargil war heroes and their kins. But the structure went up to 31-stories violating many rules and regulation, including, environment clearance and with alleged support from many high ups, who ultimately occupied the flats.

After media exposed the blatant violation of rules and regulations, which were suppressed for many years with the support from top bureaucrats and vested interests, the Congress party leadership sacked Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, whose three relatives were allotted flats.

Investigations by the media suggest that politicians, retired Army officers and senior bureaucrats colluded to corner flats in the building.

The Army is also investigating the role of some of its senior-most officers for their alleged role in the scam.

The society’s occupation certificate was cancelled by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and its power and water supplies were also snapped on Nov 3.

There is a huge demand from various corners to raze down the structure, especially for security reasons as many army and navy installations on Mumbai coast can be seen from the high rise building.