Another file missing,now from MoEF

Even as the Central Bureau of Investigations is struggling to solve the case of missing files in the controversial Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society scam

Even as the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) is struggling to solve the case of missing files in the controversial Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society scam,the agency has found another file linked to the scandal missing,this time from the office of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in New Delhi.

The voluminous file is believed to have contained several letters establishing the correspondence between MoEF and the state government regarding Coastal Regulation Zone norms. “Although this file missing will not hamper the investigation,it seems like a mischief by the same people who tampered with the papers from the Urban Development (UD) Department of Maharashtra. While those notings had some very crucial details,this file was already photocopied and kept safely in the MoEF office long ago,” a senior investigating officer said.

Last November,the UD Department had reported that four pages were missing from the Adarsh files and three UD officers had already been arrested in the case. “It’s no coincidence that both the files contained crucial letters related to the development permission on land of a nearby road from civic plans for giving more FSI to the society,and CRZ clearances. The letters about deletion of 60.96 m land to 18.40 m have gone missing along with many other papers in the file,” a CBI source said.

One important letter was apparently written in 2003 by the MoEF to P V Deshmukh,the then deputy secretary,Urban Development Department. Deshmukh is one of the 13 accused in the Adrash scam. The MoEF’s reply was in response to the society’s proposal,forwarded by the state government to the Union Ministry,seeking CRZ clearance for construction. The ministry had replied that since the plot fell in CRZ,permission was required from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA).

According to the FIR,Deshmukh had allegedly conspired with prime accused R C Thakur and others of the Adarsh society and had fraudulently communicated to the chief engineer building plan,Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM),that a no-objection certificate (NOC) was granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests though no such NOC was ever issued by the ministry,and thereby abused the official position for his personal gain by becoming a member in the society. “The same letter,which Deshmukh fraudently communicated to the engineer,was stacked in this file,” a CBI officer said.

Like in the earlier missing file from the UD Department,the CBI suspects that the three arrested persons,who then worked under the then principal secretary Ramanand Tiwari,may have aided some of the accused in the main Adarsh case. Now with this missing file,they are probing if the same persons were behind both the missing files… According to the MoEF,the file went missing in 2009,around the same time when files went missing from the UD Department. We were informed only when our team went to the MoEF office last week,” the CBI officer said.

The MoEF has now been asked to write a formal complaint to the CBI,so that a complaint can be registered.

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