Adarsh panel summons Sushilkumar Shinde

Stating that the list of witnesses being summoned is not an exhaustive one,the commission is also scheduled to examine Adarsh’s general secretary R C Thakur,former principal secretary of the Urban Development Department (UDD) Ramanand Tiwari,Congress leader K L Gidwani,former collector of Mumbai Pradeep Vyas and former under-secretary in the UDD P V Deshmukh,among others.

Meanwhile,the panel headed by retired High Court Justice J A Patil and ex-Maharashtra Chief Secretary P Subrahmanyam on Monday began recording the evidence of Brigadier Deepak Saxena,who is representing the Ministry of Defence and testified regarding the ownership of the land on which the building stands.

In his testimony,Saxena claimed that although there was no register entry to support that the Adarsh land belonged to the Army,there were enough maps and plans which supported the Army’s claim. “Adarsh land is Army land and that is the truth,” he said to the commission while furnishing maps and plans to support his claim.

However,none of these maps have been annexed to the affidavits filed by the Ministry of Defence until now. “There are serious objections in these documents and the department has not made any mention of it on record,” said advocate Dhiren Shah,appearing for the ministry.

However,the commission allowed the deposition stating it was made voluntarily by Saxena. “Every document that the ministry possesses,it is bound to bring on record. They cannot omit the documents according to their convenience,” responded the commission’s advocate Dipan Merchant to Shah’s objection.

In his deposition,Saxena highlighted that hardly any objection had been raised by the ministry between 2000 and 2010,the period during which the scam took place. “Until 2003,no objection was raised. In 2003,the then Defence Estate Officer had objected to the construction and handing over the land to Adarsh society. However,nothing happened after that,” Saxena said. His deposition will continue on Tuesday.

While the CBI is investigating the scam,the state government constituted the panel in January to look into issues such as whether the land where Adarsh came up was reserved for the kin of Kargil war martyrs,and alleged irregularities and violation of environmental norms while giving various permissions for construction.