Defence ministry claims ownership of Adarsh land

The defence ministry on Friday filed a title suit before the Bombay high court seeking claim on the land on which the scam-hit Adarsh Housing Society building stands, alleging the residential complex has been constructed 'illegally and unlawfully'.

The MoD submitted that the land in Colaba in upscale south Mumbai where the 31-storey flat complex has been constructed belonged to them and sought its possession. The  complex has over 100 flats -- some of them owned by retireddefence officers.

The ministry while alleging that the complex has been constructed 'illegally and unlawfully' said the MoD is the sole owner of the land, which was transferred to Adarsh

Housing Society by 'fraud, collusion and connivance on the part of the society members, ministers and bureaucrats of the state government'.

The MoD action came eight months after a Maharashtra government-appointed judicial panel concluded that the land belonged to state government and was not reserved for Kargil war widows or their families as claimed in some quarters.

The two-member inquiry panel had submitted its report to the Maharashtra government in April this year. On May 28, the Ministry issued notices to the state and Adarsh society, asking them to acknowledge MoD's ownership of the plot and hand over its possession within two months failing which it would file a civil suit in a competent court.

The suit is likely to come up for hearing in due course of time. Earlier, the ministry had filed a petition in the HC seeking implementation of the January 2011 order of demolition passed by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest against Adarsh.

The MoD had claimed the building was a security threat to the defence establishments located in its vicinity.