93 flats of Adarsh society still locked: Centre to SC

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

The Centre today told the Supreme Court that 93 flats in the controversial 28-storey Adarsh Cooperative Society in Mumbai were still locked and it did not know what was inside those flats.
A bench of Justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre asked Adarsh Society to write letters to the owners of these flats and open the locks.
Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Centre, said out of the 104 flats, 93 were locked and they have got only 11 open flats which were taken into possession as per the apex court's order.
"We don't know what is inside these 93 flats and if tomorrow anyone comes and says that their belongings were there and it was damaged, then we should not be held accountable," Kumar said.

Counsel appearing for Adarsh Society said by October 3, some furniture lying in the premises will be vacated and some construction material lying will be removed.
He said the building was vacated and no one has been staying there and the 93 flats belonged to those who have got the allotment papers.

The counsel further said they will write to these flat owners to open the locks, so that it can be handed over to the Centre as per the court's direction.
The bench posted the matter for further hearing along with the petition challenging the Bombay High Court order directing demolition of the building.

On September 9, the apex court has asked the Centre to respond to the plea of the Adarsh Cooperative Society on maintenance of the scam-tainted building.
The housing society has sought a direction to the Military Engineering Services (MES), the custodian of the building, to ensure proper maintenance of facilities like lifts, generators and fire fighting equipments of the building as the office bearers of the society and flat owners have been barred from entering the premises by the apex court.
The apex court had on July 22 asked the Centre to secure
possession of Adarsh apartments at the posh Colaba area of South Mumbai for Kargil heroes and war widows, after taking its possession from the housing society by August 5.

The bench had also said that the word "secure" meant that there will be no razing of the building.
It had also issued notices on a batch of pleas, filed against the Bombay High Court decision ordering demolition, by the housing society and some allottees.
Earlier, the High Court had ordered demolition of the apartments and sought initiation of criminal proceedings against politicians and bureaucrats for "misuse" of powers, holding that the tower was illegally constructed.
The High Court, while ordering demolition, had stayed the operation for 12 weeks of its order to pull it down to enable the society to move the apex court with the appeal.

In its order, the HC bench had asked the Ministry of Environment and Forest to carry out the demolition at the expense of petitioners (Adarsh Society).
It had also asked the Centre and Maharashtra Government to consider initiating civil and criminal proceedings against bureaucrats, ministers and politicians for misuse and abuse of power to get plots under the scheme, originally meant for Kargil war heroes and war widows.
The Adarsh scam kicked up a huge political storm after it surfaced in 2010, leading to the resignation of then Congress Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.