The Bombay High Court on Friday reportedly ordered the Ministry of Environment and Forests to demolish the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai. It has, however, granted a 12-week stay on the demolition order, giving the counsel of the residential complex time to appeal in the Supreme Court.
The high court bench of Justices RV More and RG Ketkar has also ordered an investigation against the politicians, ministers and officers allegedly involved in the scam, the Times of India reported.
It has also ordered the Ministry of Defence to carry out a departmental inquiry against its officers who failed to start an investigation when the scam was was unearthed in November 2010.
Initially, the project was to construct a six-storey building in Colaba to provide housing to war veterans and widows, but it was later turned into a 31-storey high-rise complex with flats allotted to several politicians, bureaucrats and army officers at a cheaper price, according to the TOI.
The judicial commission's inquiry into the Adarsh Housing Society scam revealed that 25 of the 102 members of the society were allotted flats illegally and 22 cases emerged showing flats were bought on proxies, NDTV reported.
It also revealed that three relatives of former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan were allotted flats in the complex , following which the Congress leader had to resign from the post of chief minister.
It was further found that the builders had not got environmental clearance to construct the high-rise complex, the Indian Express reported.
"The Adarsh CHS had never applied to the Ministry of Environment and Forests for Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance through the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority," the inquiry report said.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had ordered demolition of the "unauthorised" building in January 2011, just months after the scam came to light, but the order was challenged in the high court.
