Adarsh: CBI wants info on salary of top army officers

Surprised by the emoluments of Army top brass as declared by them while procuring flats in Adarsh Society here, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is approaching the Defence Ministry to seek clarification on whether an Army Chief was being paid only Rs 23,450 per month.

The CBI has procured the documents from the Maharashtra government in which the profiles of all the members of the controversial housing society were mentioned along with the monthly income of them, official sources said.

The documents had earlier been made public by an RTI activist Yogacharya Anandji which showed that then Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor had shown his salary as Rs 23,450 and surprisingly around the same time his Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh had announced his salary as Rs 41,000 a month.

CBI has collected these documents and will write to the Ministry of Defence seeking details regarding the same, a senior official said adding, if the officials had filed false affidavits, action could be taken against them for "misrepresentation of facts".

Efforts to seek comments from Gen Kapoor did not fructify as he was not available on phone. Gen Kapoor had earlier claimed that he paid for the Adarsh Society apartment through his savings and bank loans.

According to the documents procured under the RTI Act by Anandji, Kapoor while registering for a flat in the plush society in south Mumbai, had declared his monthly salary income as Rs 23,450 only while Singh declared Rs 41,000 as his monthly income. Former Army chief Nirmal Chander Vij had in 2007 declared his monthly income as Rs 39,825.

The documents have revealed at least 40 out of the 87 proposed Adarsh members declared monthly income of Rs 12,500 or lower as of January 2004 (71-member list) and December 2007 (16-member list). Under a 1999 government resolution, civilians as well as retired defence and government employees could not get memberships in societies like Adarsh unless they earned Rs 12,500 a month or lower. The rule was later relaxed for a few officers.

Among the income declarations of Rs 12,500 and lower, are those of Kanishka Pathak, son of ex-BMC chief Jairaj Pathak who has declared Rs 12,500 a month and Malav Shah, son of Pune-based builder Jayantilal Shah, who declared Rs 11,000.

Brigadier M M Wanchu, office-bearer of Adarsh, listed his income as Rs 10,000 a month. Paramveer Sancheti, son of Abhay Sancheti, chairman of Nagpur-based SMS Infrastructure, declared his salary as Rs 13,630 a month in 2007.

Kailash Gidwani and Amit Gidwani, sons of former MLC Kanhaiyalal Gidwani, one of the main promoters of the society, have declared their monthly income as Rs 12,500 and Rs 11,500 respectively.

Meanwhile, Onkar Tiwari, son of former urban development secretary and present chief information commissioner Ramanand Tiwari, said he was in service and declared an amount of Rs 16,667 as his monthly income.