Adarsh: IAS officers suspended

The Maharashtra government has suspended principal secretary for expenditure Pradeep Vyas and senior IAS officer Jairaj Phatak, pending investigation in the Adarsh Housing Society scam, the state informed the Bombay High Court on Thursday. Vyas, along with three others, was arrested on Wednesday by the Central Bureau of Investigation, just five days ahead of the 2012-13 state budget presentation. While Vyas was the collector of Mumbai, Phatak was the municipal commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai when the scam took place. The court, meanwhile, wanted the scam-tainted Adarsh Housing Society to surrender the 31-storey building to the defence ministry on the ground the structure posed a threat to sensitive defence installations nearby .