An inquiry has prime facie found that Army and defence estates officials allegedly colluded to illegally transfer defence land to a charitable trust in Jodhpur after which a CBI inquiry has been ordered, Defence Minister A K Antony informed the lok Sabha today.
The 4.84 acres of piece of land was handed over Major Maharaja Hari Singh charitable trust by the local military authorities on August 23, 2007.
"Enquiry by Army authorities has revealed that Army officers at Jodhpur allegedly in collusion with Defence Estates Organisation (DEO) officials illegally transfered defence land to benefit the trust. The matter has, therefore, been referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation for further investigation," the Defence minister said in reply to a query.
He said the CBI has filed a preliminary enquiry in to the case on May 14.
The Defence Minister said about 12,634 acres of defence land has been under encroachment and "action for removal of encroachment is taken" under the provisions of various acts.
"Detailed instructions emphasising the need for ensuring vigilance, detection and prevention of new encroachments have been issued to the Ministry," Antony said.
After several land scams such as Sukna and Adarsh, the Defence Minister took away the right of the local military authorities to issue No Objection Certificates (NOC) to private individuals or organisation for use of defence land or use of land near defence establishments.
On the Adarsh land scam, the Defence Minister said the matter has been transferred to the CBI for investigation which has registered a case against 13 persons.
"The Army officers listed in the charge-sheet include retired Maj Gens T K Kaul and A R Kumar, retired Brigs M M Wanchu and Brig T K Sinha and retired Col R K Bakshi," he said.
Answering another query on the procurement of 126 multirole combat aircraft, Antony said the tender for procurement of the planes were evaluated on the basis of the concept of life cycle cost which was indicated in the Request for Proposals.
On the induction of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, he said defects were encountered in the warship's boiler furnace brickwork during trials from June to September 2012.
"All boiler furnace brickwork which had developed defects, have been now replaced. The ship is likely to be delivered in the last quarter of 2013," Antony said.