BJP wants special assembly session on Adarsh Society scam ATR

The Bharatiya Janata Party Tuesday demanded a special session of the Maharashtra legislature for tabling and discussing the action taken report in the Adarsh Society scam.

Speaking to media persons here Tuesday evening, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Vinod Tawade said he plans to meet Governor K. Sankaranarayanan to urge him to ask the state government to convene a special session to table and discuss the ATR.

Invoking a constitutional clause, Tawde said it was imperative on the part of the state government to table the Adarsh Society scam ATR within six months of the date from which it was submitted to the government.

"A two-member judicial commission appointed by the state government had submitted its ATR to the state government last April 19 and now the government must table it and hold a discussion on it," he demanded.

The two-member commission, including retired high court judge Justice J.A. Patil and former chief secretary P. Subramaniam, was set up in January 2011 with a mandate to enquire into various aspects, including the ownership of the land on which the 31-storeyed Adarsh Society building was constructed, whether it was reserved for housing Kargil widows or war heroes and if norms were flouted while granting permissions.

After examining more than 180 witnesses, the commission had said in an interim report that the land belonged to the state government and it was not reserved for Kargil widows or war heroes.

With top political and bureaucratic names involved, the Adarsh Society scam was the subject of probes by multiple agencies including the Central Bureau of Investigation and the defence authorities.