CAG: No need to demolish Adarsh
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Friday observed that there is no need to demolish the controversial Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society, as in the future, it can be used to accommodate government officials.
The CAG also termed the entire episode a classic example of “fence eating the crops”, but stated that it was pointless to let the entire work into building the structure to go to waste.
In the report, the CAG has observed that to raze the 31-storey structure in the upmarket Cuffe Parade area would be a “hasty” one, and that its demolition would compound the problem. Noting this, the CAG added that the structure could be acquired by the government and used for government housing, the top auditor maintained.
If the suggestion is taken up, the society members who have paid for their flats may be compensated as per the law. The CAG noted that the war widows and deserving ex-servicemen, for whom the Adarsh society was actually meant, could be allotted the apartments. The CAG report added that the entire episode is a glaring example of dereliction of duty and a severe lack of probity and accountability, which needs to be very seriously investigated.
“The entire episode of the Adarsh society scam is a classic example of the fence eating the crops,” the CAG added. Promoters of the society were so confident of being allotted the land that even before the society was registered and the site handed over for construction on July 12, 2004, they had appealed for additional floor space index from the adjacent land that was in use by the Best, the report noted. To seek apartments in a prime location, a group of select and powerful, elite people resorted to falsification of records.
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