leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative Council Vinod Tawde of the BJP on Tuesday urged State Governor K Sankarnarayanan to direct the Congress-led DF Government to convene a special session of the State legislature before October 20 for the tabling of the politically-crucial inquiry commission report on Adarsh housing society scam.
In a memorandum submitted to the Governor, Tawde said that Under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, it was mandatory for the Maharashtra Government to table the two-member inquiry commission report on the Adarsh scam, within six months after the submission of the report by the commission.
“Given that the six-month deadline will end on October 20, I request you to direct the Maharashtra Government to convene a special session of the State legislature to table the inquiry report along with the Action Taken Report (ATR) on the inquiry findings and facilitate a debate in the both Houses on the issue,” Tawde stated in his memorandum to the Governor.
Talking to mediapersons before calling on the Governor, Tawde said that the DF Government had so far failed to convene a special session of the Maharashtra legislature, despite his having written letters to State Council chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh, chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan, deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and legislative Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Patil reminding them about their legal obligation to table the inquiry report on or before October 20.
Tawde charged that the Congress-led DF Government was hesitating to table the inquiry report in the State legislature, as the two-member commission report had “indicted” some of the ruling politicians for their involvement in the scam. “The Congress-led Government apprehends that the inquiry report, if tabled in the State legislature, might land the ruling dispensation in trouble,” the senior BJP leader said.
Set up on January 8, 2011 under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, a two- member Commission — comprising retired judge of the Bombay High Court JA Patil and retired Chief Secretary of Maharashtra P Subramanyam — which went into various aspects of the Adarsh scam — submitted its report to the Maharashtra Government on April 19 2013, the last day of the Budget Session of State legislature.
However, despite its assurances to the contrary made to the BJP-led Opposition, the DF Government had failed to keep its promise of tabling the inquiry commission report on Adarsh society scam on the last day of the Monsoon Session of the State legislature on August 2.
On his part, the Chief Minister had attributed his Government’s failure to table Adarsh probe panel report in the State legislature to the fact that the ATR was not yet ready.
However, a livid Opposition had then gone to town, charging the DF Government with trying to “shield” ruling politicians “indicted” in the inquiry commission report and demanding that a special session of the Maharashtra legislature be convened before the winter session especially to table and discuss the Adarsh report.
If there is now renewed clamour for the tabling of the inquiry report on the Adarsh society on or before October 20, it is because the BJP-led Opposition wants to corner the DF Government on the findings of the (Retd) Justice JA Patil-headed commission, which probed the roles of three former CMs of Maharashtra —Ashok Chavan and his predecessors late Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde, and a host of IAS officers who cleared the files relating to the scam.
Chavan was the chief minister when the Adarsh scam surfaced, and he resigned in November 2010 accepting his moral responsibility.
The Adarsh commission’s findings notwithstanding, Chavan is one of the 13 persons named as accused by the CBI in its charge-sheet on the Adarsh scam filed before a trial court.
During the course of its probe, the J A Patil-headed Commission had recorded the statements of three former chief ministers -- late Deshmukh, the current Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ashok Chavan, several senior retired bureaucrats and ex-Army personnel. In all, the Commission had examined 182 witnesses during the probe.
Two of the 13 terms of reference that the two-member commission dwelt upon in its interim report -- tabled in the State legislature on April 17, 2012 -- were: the ownership of the land at Colaba in south Mumbai, on which 31-storey Adarsh building has been constructed, and on whether the land had been reserved for Kargil war widows and their relatives.
One of the 11 other terms of reference, on which the Commission has dwelt upon the roles of the three former chief ministers, is: Whether any public servant had given permission or clearances as a quid pro quo to theAdarsh society, which would attract the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988IJ
In its interim report tabled earlier in the State legislature, the two-member Commission held that the land on which the 31-storey controversial building has been constructed, belonged to the Maharashtra government.
Maintaining that unlike the Maharashtra government, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had failed to establish its claim of title to the land, the commission had also held that the Adarsh building land at Colaba in south Mumbai, had never been reserved for either defence personnel or Kargil war heroes, as had been alleged in certain quarters.
On the allegations that the land on which Adarsh building stands, had been reserved for defence personnel or Kargil war heroes, the Commission stated in its 115-page interim report “…there is no Government Resolution (GR) or notification issued by the GoM providing reservation of the land in question for the defence personnel or Kargil War heroes. … In view of the position, there is no difficulty in recording a negative finding on term no 2 of the reference”.