CAG to take view on probing Adarsh scam shortly

Government auditor CAG today said it will shortly take a view on probing the Adarsh housing scam, which led to the ouster of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

"We will take a view on that (probing the Adarsh housing scam) in due course," Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai told reporters when asked if the CAG was looking at the scam.
 
Contrary to some media reports, he clarified that at present CAG "was not auditing the Adarsh Housing Society scam".

Rai was talking to reporters after inaugurating the new logo of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department.

A controversy had erupted last month over how the Adarsh Housing Society, originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and widows, got converted into a 31-storey tower through alleged collusion of bureaucrats, politicians and top defence officers.

The controversy fundamentally hinges around whether the plot of land belonged to the army or to the state government.

The Mumbai housing scam came as an embarrassment to the Congress party, which accepted the resignation of state Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. He will be replaced by Prithviraj Chavan, currently Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office.

Yesterday, Defence Minister A K Antony had ordered CBI probe to fix responsibility of the Armed Forces and Defence Estates officers in the Housing society scam.

Also, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said he expected some action to be taken by his department against the upscale Adarsh Housing Society in the "next two to three days" for alleged violation of environmental norms.

Soon after the scam came to light, the Defence Ministry had asked the Army, Navy and the Defence Estates to submit a report on the issue.

The preliminary findings of the ministry's probe brought out "criminal conspiracy" at the local level in Army and Defence Estates to alienate the land, which was in Army's possession till 1999-2000, in favour of the Housing Society.

Also, over 40 officers from the armed forces and Defence Estates, too, had got flats allotted in the society.