The Bombay High Court on Friday ordered the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to demolish the “illegal” 31 storey-Adarsh building at Colaba in south Mumbai and directed the Centre and State Government to initiate civil and criminal proceedings against bureaucrats, Ministers and politicians for various offences, including “misuse and abuse of powers” by them.

However, while accepting a plea by Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society, a Bench of Justices RV More and RG Ketkar kept on hold its order for 12 weeks to enable the society to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. On its part, the Maharashtra Government opposed the Adarsh society’s plea seeking time to move the apex court.

The HC Bench ruled that the Adarsh society, the petitioners in the case, would bear the expenses arising out of the impending demolition,

The HC order came as a vindication of the stand taken in January 2011 by the MoEF which had ordered the demolition of the Adarsh building on the ground that it was unauthorised” and that the society had not obtained the requisite clearance under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 1991.

The HC Bench delivered the verdict on a bunch of petitions filed by Adarsh society challenging the demolition MoEF’s January 2011 and a title suit filed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) claiming that it owned the land on which the 31—storey society building was constructed.

In a ruling that showed a way forward for the much-discussed Adarsh scam, the HC Bench also directed the Centre and Maharashtra Government to consider initiating civil and criminal proceedings against bureaucrats, Ministers and politicians, if not already done, for various offences, including misuse and abuse of powers by them.

“The Centre and Maharashtra Government shall consider initiating civil and criminal proceedings against bureaucrats, Ministers and politicians, if not already done, for various offences in acquiring the plot on which Adarsh Society stands and also for misuse and abuse of powers,” the HC Bench ruled.

The Judges also directed the Centre and State Government to consider taking departmental proceedings in accordance with law against bureaucrats. “The disciplinary authority shall take decision in accordance with law without being influenced by the findings of the High Court,” the HC Bench noted.

Placing on record its appreciation for complainant Simpreet Singh, a member of National Alliance of People’s Movement, the HC Bench said: “But for this intervention, perhaps the gross violation by the petitioners (Adarsh Society) would have not been detected,” said the Judges.

The court also directed the Adarsh society to pay `1 lakh as cost to each of the six respondents including Bharat Bhushan, Director of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Nalini Bhat, Advisor and Competent Authority, MoEF, Sitaram Kunte, former Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and three others.

While ordering the “removal” of the entire “unauthorised structure” of the Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society (ACHS) and restoration of the area to its original condition, the MoEF had noted that if its directive was not complied within three months of the order, it would be “constrained” to enforce the order under Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

At that time, then Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh had said that his Ministry had rejected two other options — that of undertaking partial demolition and of “take-over” of the building for public use at a later stage — of dealing with the violation of the “very spirit” of the CRZ Notification, 1991, by the ACHS.

The Adarsh society subsequently contested MoEF’s demolition order and also opposed the title suit filed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) claiming ownership of the land at Colaba in South Mumbai.

Maharashtra’s then chief minister Ashok Chavan, it may be recalled, had resigned as the Chief Minister on November 9, 2010, following the expose of the Adarsh society scam.

In its voluminous chargesheet filed against him and 12 others in the Adarsh scam case before the special court on July 4, 2012, the CBI had formally charged Chavan with having conspired with three prime scam accused, that he, in his capacity as the Revenue Minister in year 2000, had “proposed” to the society’s managing committee to induct civilians as members in the Adarsh building with the "ulterior motive" of facilitating flat allotments to his relatives.

The CBI had also charged that Chavan — during his tenure as the Chief Minister in July 2009 — gave the Adarsh society a concession of 15 per cent Recreation Ground (RG) which had not been allowed by the previous Government.  “In turn, Chavan got membership for his close relatives and thus abused his official position and favoured (Adarsh) society”, the chargesheet had stated.

The CBI’s charge was that her he had allotted flats to his (now late) mother-in-law Bhagwati Manoharlal Sharma and two of his relatives Seema Vinod Sharma and Madanlal Milkiram Sharma in lieu of the favours he had done to the controversial society. 

Among other things, the chargesheet clearly stated that “Ashok Chavan while functioning as the Revenue Minster of Government of Maharashtra during the year 2000 became a member of the criminal conspiracy with accused RC Thakur, Brig Madan Mohan Wachu and Khanhailala Gidwani in pursuance to the same, he proposed to included the civilians as members in the society with the ulterior motive to make his relatives as members in the society”.

On his part, Chavan subsequently challenged the CBI’s move in the special court to include his name as an accused in the chargesheet on the ground that no sanction for prosecution had been obtained from the Governor. The CBI maintained that since he was a former chief minister at the time of being chargesheeted, gubernatorial approval was not required.

However, the court directed the CBI to get sanction for Chavan's prosecution from the Governor. After the CBI approached the then Governor K Sankaranarayanan for sanction for Chavan’s prosecution in the Adarsh scam case, the latter refused to grant sanction to the investigating agency.

While rejecting the CBI’s plea for sanction to prosecute Chavan, the Governor had said: “"Having considered the matter from all angles, the entire papers and documents, I do not find that even a prima facie case is made out”.

 On March 4, 2015, the Bombay High Court rejected Chavan’s application seeking the recall of its earlier order disallowing the CBI from dropping his name from the charge-sheet in the Adarsh housing society scam case.

 “I do not find any merits in the application. The application stands dismissed,” Justice M l Tahaliyani had observed, as he rejected Chavan’s application seeking the recall of the November 19, 2014 order of the high court which had rejected the CBI's petition seeking the deletion of his name as an accused from the charge-sheet in the Adarsh society case.

 In his November 19 2014 order rejecting the CBI’s petition seeking to drop his name from the charge sheet in the Adarsh housing society scam case, Justice Tahaliyani had observed that the Governor had refused sanction for prosecution for conspiracy charge under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but he could still be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

 Chavan had challenged the Bombay High Court’s March 4, 2015 order rejecting his application seeking the recall of its earlier order disallowing the CBI from dropping his name from the charge-sheet in the Adarsh case. The matter is pending before the apex court.

 The law caught up finally with Ashok Chavan on February 4 this year, when Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao granted sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute the senior Congress leader in the Adarsh co-operative housing society scam.