Mumbai:
In what could a setback for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the Adarsh Society case, Retired Lt General GS Sihota has told the commission probing the scam that the land in question does not belong to the MoD.
Former Defence personnel are deposing before the judicial panel probing the Adarsh Society scam. Retired Lieutenant General GS Sihota is the first.
The Defence Ministry has always maintained that Adarsh Society was illegally built on their land while today the former senior officer has told the commission exactly the opposite.
Lt Gen GS Sihota (Retd) also said that he takes responsibility for action taken on that plot of land. He was the area commander when AR Kumar, one of the accused in the case, was posted as an officer in the defence estate office. Mr Kumar was allegedly instrumental in giving the controversial No Objection Certificate or NoC from the Defence Ministry to the state government for construction of Adarsh building.
Former Army chiefs General Deepak Kapoor and General NC Vij will also appear before the commission later this week. They had got membership in the controversial society when Vilasrao Deshmukh was the chief minister. After the controversy emerged, they gave up the flats.
There are multiple agencies probing the Adarsh scandal, including the judicial commission which was set up by the Maharashtra government after the outcry over the scam. The commission is probing the ownership of the land and whether it was reserved for Kargil War heroes.
The interim report submitted by the commission stated that the land belongs to the state. Three former chief minister of Maharashtra who have deposed before the panel - Ashok Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh - too have maintained that the land belonged to the state.
However, the Defence Ministry have from the very beginning claimed that the land is owned by them. So, the deposition of these key Defence personnel will start an interesting legal battle over the ownership of the land.