'Decision on Adarsh demolition after CBI report'

After the Environment Ministry recommended demolition of the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai, Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday said he would take a decision on the issue after getting the Central Bureau of Investigation report. "We will take a decision after the CBI inquiry is over," he told mediapersons in New Delhi.

Antony was asked if the defence ministry had decided anything on the fate of the scam-tainted building in view of the recommendations made by the environment ministry and the army's southern command.

The CBI, which is probing the scam, is also likely to give its recommendations as to whether the building constructed next to a sensitive naval base is a security threat and whether it should be demolished or given to the defence ministry for public use. The defence ministry had recommended a CBI probe after it emerged that flats were allotted to several senior serving and retired military personnel including three former service chiefs.

On Sunday, the environment ministry recommended that the 31-storey building be demolished within three months as the project in Mumbai's upmarket Colaba was "unauthorised" and violated coastal regulations.

Asked if the defence ministry had taken any decision on recommending a CBI probe in the Kandivli land scam, Antony said, "Not yet, because it has to be studied in detail. We don't want to jump to conclusions. After careful examination, wherever we find something, then only we will act."

The land scam in Mumbai allegedly involves former minister of state for defence production Rao Inderjit Singh and former army chief General Deepak Kapoor.

The two have been accused of facilitating the sale of land belonging to the Army in Mumbai's Kandivli-Malad area to a private builder. Southern Army Commander Lieutenant General Pradeep Khanna, in a report to Army Chief General V K Singh, has said that land which was under the defence ministry since 1942, has been "illegally" sold to private realtors.

Commenting on the progress made in the issue related to a secret file, which was recovered from a roadside in New Delhi, Antony said, "I think within a few days we will finalise the report. The Indian Air Force feels that it has nothing to do with the process."

The IAF had submitted its report with the defence ministry on Monday after completing its court of inquiry and had given a clean chit to its officials.