The Adarsh society on Thursday filed its reply to the notice issued by the ministry of defence, claiming that the notice had only been issued with the intention of harassment at the behest of some high-ranking defence officers.
“The ministry of defence has issued a notice now just to harass the society and with an ulterior motive to stake claim on the ownership of the property. Some high-ranking officers of the defence ministry want to settle scores with the members of the Adarsh society as they could not get membership in the society,” said the reply, which was filed by advocate Manish Desai.
The notice was issued to the Society as well as the state government in May, demanding that the land on which the building stood be handed over to the MoD, and that the department’s ownership be acknowledged if the respondents wanted to avoid a civil suit regarding the same.
The Adarsh Society’s reply went on to say that the notice was issued as an “afterthought with malafide intentions” and that the ministry of defence had no jurisdiction as only the Defence Estates Office could issue such a notice, and not the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Maharashtra and Goa, which was the case here.
“The said notice has been sent without power and without sanction from the ministry of defence,” the reply said, adding, “Assuming, without admitting, that the defence ministry had any kind of right over the land, it slept over its right for the past 12 years. Had the ministry been really keen on its right, it could have done so before the land was allotted to the society (sic),” it said.