HC stuns all, says demolish Adarsh `forthwith'

MUMBAI: “We direct the Union of India to forthwith demolish Adarsh building,“ began Justice R G Ketkar, wasting not a second after he took a seat next to Justice R V More in the Bombay high court on Friday . His words came as a wrecking ball exactly at 3pm for the team of Adarsh cooperative housing society , leaving even their senior counsel Navroz Seervai stunned for a moment.
The court ordered demolition of the entire 31-storey residential tower in Colaba next to defence establishments.The controversial building, though still unoccupied, promised great sea-views for many bureaucrats or their families who were allotted flats, allegedly in lieu of processing the files fast, in what was otherwise meant to be a housing scheme for serving and retired defence personnel and war widows.
As Seervai, who had argued for over a month against the demolition, quickly regained his composure and sought a stay , the court granted a 12-week stay on its order to enable the society to appeal in the Supreme Court.
The state and environment authorities objected to the stay. But the high court found the society's plea reaso nable at this stage. The court also ordered that the prime Backbay reclamation plot on which Adarsh stands be “resumed“ -that is, taken back -within four weeks. The building's fate had been hanging in balance since January 16, 2011, when the Union environment ministry issued demolition orders over the lack of a green approval, following a 2010 expose of the Adarsh irregularities by TOI.The resulting controversy had led to then Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan stepping down in November 2010. The state swung into action, revoking the occupancy certificate in October 2010, and two days later, the water and electricity was cut too.
The society insisted that it had all clearances and permissions, including the environmental clearance. The flurry of action in cluded a bunch of PILs filed Mahendra Singh, Simpreet Singh and Ketan Tirodkar for a criminal probe. The arguments outside the court ultimately led to a criminal case being registered and probed by the CBI.Controversies continued with papers going missing, which the Marine Drive police said it would probe. But the HC in February 2011 transferred the missing papers probe to CBI too. The criminal proceedings are going on separately with the CBI having filed a final chargesheet in July 2012 against 13 persons including the society's secretary R C Thakur and ex-CM Chavan.
The society had rushed to court seeking restoration of all three (OC, power and water supply), but in the first interim, yet detailed order, a bench then headed by Justice B H Marlapalle not only did not restore either, but said the state needs to inquire into serious issues raised of bureaucrats' quid pro quo situations and issues of additional development rights obtained from the adjoined plot meant for a bus depot and the manner in which it was granted so swiftly by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority .
The judge's second line in the judgment sealed the fate for babus and their political masters too. “We direct the Union and state governments to consider initiating proper civil or criminal proceedings against concerned bureaucrats and politicians, if not done so far for commit ting various offences in acquiring the land and also for abuse of powers.“ The court also directed the defence ministry to consider conducting “in-depth inquiry“ against its officers for not acting in time and to “consider initiating departmental proceedings against concerned bureaucrats“ whose help may have been crucial in Adarsh getting all the clearances for its 31-storeyed building next to defence establishments.
The court also directed the society to pay a cost of Rs 1 lakh each to various officials including Sitaram Kunte, T C Benjamin, MoEF officers Senthilval, Thiru, MoEF director Bharat Bhushan and its advisor Nalini Bhat. The HC did not elaborate on the costs or their reason.
The reasoned text of the judgment was not available.The court passed the final verdict in a bunch of matters. The first judgment was on the petition filed by Adarsh against the MoEF demolition order. It also passed another on separate petition filed by the Union of India, through the Indian Army.
The Army highlighted the security threat the building posed since it had sensitive defence facilities in the vicinity and sought that the OC must not be restored. The building had barely got the OC in September 2010 when the controversy erupted a month later and no family had shifted in fully yet.
The court was deciding a bunch of petitions filed by Adarsh housing society , the ministry of defence and public interest litigant Santosh Daundkar. The PIL, said his lawyer Aditya Pratap, was over the height clearance for construction of the high-rise next to defence establishments. On the PIL, the HC said it was not getting into it, since the verdict in the Adarsh petition covered all aspects.
“The order comes as vindication of the stand of MCZMA, MoEF and the Army ,'' said defence ministry counsel Darius Khambata on Friday, while R C Thakur, the society secretary couldn't hide his “shock.“