'Adarsh on state land; is no security threat'

Mumbai collector Chandrashekar Oak on Saturdyu stated before the judicial panel probing the Adarsh Society scam that the land on which the building stands belonged to the Maharashtra government, and it is not a security threat to the nearby defence installations.

One of the allegations in the Adarsh controversy is that the highrise stands on defence ministry's land, and the state could not have legally allotted it to the society.

"The Adarsh building stands on state government land. It is not close to any military installation and hence not a security threat," Oak said while deposing before the two-member inquiry commission.

The collector further said that the slums behind Adarsh were a demarcation between the defence land and the government land. "Some huts are in defence area while some are on state government land," he said.

Oak is the sixth witness to depose before the commission. His deposition assumes importance as three former state chief ministers -- Ashok Chavan, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde -- have passed the buck onto the collector's office.

All of them have said in their respective affidavits that it was the collector's office that was most closely associated with land allotment, reservations, scrutiny of membership forms, etc. Oak's deposition would continue on Monday.