Bureaucrats being probed for Adarsh scam role

After politicians and defence personnel, bureaucrats are now in the net of suspicion in the Mumbai?s Adarsh Cooperative Society housing scam.

At least 21 former bureaucrats are being asked by Maharashtra government?s General Administrative Department (GAD) about their roles, if any, in handling the Adarsh file.

The ex-babus are also being asked if their sons or daughters were members of the society and the source of funds.

An exclusive report by the news channel CNN-IBN on Tuesday claimed that the GAD had sent a letter seeking these details to 21 bureaucrats on December three and all of them have furnished their replies.

But GAD is not satisfied with the replies, CNN-IBN report said.

The bureaucrats are also reportedly unhappy over the high level internal inquiry instituted against them.

Among those under the scanner are: former municipal commissioner JM Phatak, (still in service in Delhi), former city collector Pradeep Vyas (retired), former city collector IA Kundan (still in service), former chief secretary DK Sankaran and his wife Joyce Sankaran, former BEST general manager Uttam Khobragade (still in service), current Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Swadheen Khastriya and former transport secretary CS Sangitrao (still in service).

Two other top officers, chief information commissioner Ramanand Tiwari and Human Rights Commission member Subhash Lala have been asked by chief minister Pritviraj Chavan to resign after it was revealed that their immediate families were direct beneficiaries and were allotted flats in Adarsh.

Tiwari was the Urban Development secretary when the Adarsh file was being processed while Lala was secretary to the former Maharashtra chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

Chavan was forced to step down last month after the scam surfaced.

The Adarsh society flats were originally meant for war widows and their dependants but former defence officers and kin of powerful politicians and bureaucrats ended up getting membership.