Adarsh scam: Navy says many plots encroached upon

In the wake of the Adarsh housing scam, the Navy has found that a "huge number" of its plots were encroached upon, a top Navy official said on Wednesday.

"We have started the exercise of identifying plots, its owners and the acquisition. We are checking all the records of land holdings to ascertain whether it is in jurisdiction of defence or revenue department. We will be reclaiming all our defence land," said western naval command chief vice admiral Sanjeev Bhasin to mediapersons on board aircraft carrier INS Viraat.

"A huge number of our plots are encroached upon, like in Mumbai's Navy Nagar, Geeta Nagar, Ganesh Murti Nagar and Sunder Nagar areas and also at Kalyan in neighbouring Thane district," he said.

On the Geeta Nagar plot, the Maharashtra government had assured that the slum dwellers would be rehabilitated under the slum rehabilitation scheme by 2011, he said. The Kalyan plot is encroached by farmers for agriculture, he said.

"It is believed that the land is in possession of the defence but it is still not clear who is the actual owner of the plot. So the matter is in the court. The owner is either the defence or the revenue department of the state government," Bhasin said, commenting on the Adarsh housing issue.

The issue needs to be resolved. There are irregularities in sanctioning, allotment and the environmental costal regulation zone clearance. These issues are now being looked at, he said.

Asked why the Navy took such a long time to take cognisance of the Adarsh scam, he said, "I agree that somebody should have taken a note of the fact that such a huge building was coming up."

"Adarsh is a subjudice matter now, so it would not be appropriate for me to say what should have been done or not," the officer said.

Asserting that action would be taken against any Navy officer found involved in the scam, Bhasin said, "We are not holding any internal enquiry yet and are relying on the Central Bureau of Investigation enquiry."