Action will be taken against those found guilty: Army Chief

“We are establishing who did what wrong and action will be taken against those found guilty irrespective of who it is,” he said in interviews to television channels.

Gen Singh also made known his disapproval of army chiefs seeking favours and waivers on being asked about actions of his predecessor Gen Deepak Kapoor.

Facing the heat,Kapoor today met Defence Minister A K Antony and is understood to have explained his position.

During the 30-minute meeting at the Defence Ministry here,Kapoor is believed told Antony that he welcomed a probe into allotments and other complaints against the housing society.

The Defence Minister subsequently met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is believed to have apprised him on the progress made in the housing scam probe.

The scam resurfaced recently after Western Naval Commander Vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin flagged security concerns over the 31-storey highrise coming up within the security perimeter of the naval base in Mumbai.

Today’s meeting took place after Kapoor sought an appointment to clear the air over the criticism that he and fellow services Chiefs had got flats for themselves in the upscale Colaba housing society,though a part of it was meant for Kargil widows and martyr’s families.

He is also understood to have informed Antony that he had immediately surrendered the allotment of the apartment in his name,along with another former Army Chief Gen N C Vij and former Navy Chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh,soon after learning that there was a provision for Kargil martyrs in the housing society.

The 100-metre tall building had reportedly come up on a 6490-sqmt plot of land that was originally in Army’s possession since early 1940s.

The Army troops in Mumbai were using it for their training purposes till 1999-2000,when the land was reportedly transferred to the housing society for construction of the apartment building.

The Army Chief said,”I am extremely saddened and I think as an institution we have taken a beating. In 1.3 million army this would be a very very minisucle percentage but any incident which affects the hierarchy in the army,it is a sad thing because it also tries to break a bonding that we have with our men.”

“It is painful to say the least,” he said.

The Defence Minister had sought reports on the controversy from the Army,Navy and Defence Estates,who have already submitted their findings and recommendations.

The Ministry’s findings suggests that there “prima facie” was a “criminal conspiracy” in the Adarsh Housing Society in which some Army officers in Mumbai had issued a No Objection Certificate to the building coming up on the land.

Accordingly,the ministry is collating all the relevant information from the three reports and is contemplating “punitive action” of its retired and serving personnel and the housing society. The ministry is expected to announce its action on Monday.

The options being considered included probes by CBI and by Income Tax on the money trail for the housing project.

Besides Vij and Kapoor,ex-Navy chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh,former Army Vice Chief Lt Gen Shantanu Chowdhary are among those who have been alloted flats in the building in Colaba.

Kapoor claimed that he didn’t know that the massively- discounted flat he was allotted was meant for war widows and veterans.

Questions of propriety have also been raised over a letter written by him to Haryana Chief Minister seeking waiver of the 5-year lock-in period for a plot in Gurgaon that cost him Rs.36 lakh.

Asked whether army men today felt pain and a sense of shame in the wake of the scam,Singh said “yes,they do.”

“I think it will have a great amount of psychological impact and the second part which is even more larger is that when people look at it and next time we have cases like this,in fact we have martyrs every day,” Singh said.

Singh also said the intention of those asking anything for the martyrs will now be doubted.

“People are in operation everyday in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East…People are going to say anybody who is asking for something for martyr in his family is probably looking for personal gain and that is the saddest part of the episode,” he added.

Meanwhile,the Environment Ministry has said that it was yet to receive the final report from Maharashtra government on alleged violations of coastal regulation zone norms by the Adarsh housing society.

Officials said the state government was supposed to submit the report by today to the Ministry on which a final call was to be taken by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

Ramesh had recently said that an interim report had showed that the Society violated green norms and indicated that the demolition of the structure was one of the options before the ministry.

The ministry had last month had said it did not issue any Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) nod or no-objection certificate (NOC) to the Society.