The “Adarsh” controversy - Atasi Das

The Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam in south Mumbai’s posh Colaba area has turned out to be an embarrassing issue for the ruling Congress party. The who’s who including retired and serving Army personnel, legislators, bureaucrats and even an ex-Minister are beneficiaries in this 31-storey high-rise, which was originally meant to be a six-storied structure for housing ‘Kargil war-heroes and widows’.

Media reports
A portion of the Maharashtra Congress-NCP top brass had lobbied for flats in the Adarsh society for their associates including Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushilkumar Shinde and Revenue Minister Narayan Rane (all former Maharashtra CMs) and Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Ajit Pawar (nephew of NCP leader and Union Minister Sharad Pawar). Deshmukh as CM had granted Adarsh Housing Society an additional 2669 sq m of building rights and 700 sq m of land for commercial usage. Land meant for a 'bus depot' had been transferred for use as ‘residential’ property; initially the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) had objected to this transfer of building rights, but later apparently gave in. Chavan as the Maharashtra Revenue Minister in 2000 had pressurised the Adarsh society to change its bylaws, to enable the inclusion of 40 per cent civilians as society members.

Former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor had made a false salary statement to qualify for a flat in the Adarsh Housing Society; he is said to have quoted his household income at Rs 2,81,400 per annum, while drawing a monthly pay packet of Rs 90,000. Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society norms stipulated that, persons with a monthly salary of Rs 15,000 -Rs 30,000 only, were eligible for allotments in the high-rise.

A Pune-based RTI (Right to Information) activist has alleged that the Maharashtra Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari had held back information related to assets owned by the beneficiaries of the Adarsh housing complex, as his son was among the flat owners; the information was later destroyed by joint secretary Seema Vyas, another Adarsh beneficiary, after the retirement of Tiwari.

A news report has even located the genesis of the Adarsh controversy to a ‘tussle between state bureaucrats”. Complaints against the Adarsh Co-operative society snowballed after the occupants of another society at Worli,  ‘Har Siddhi’ (comprising retired and current IAS and IPS) protested against the Colaba high-rise. Har Siddhi, an 18-storey apartment near the Naval post, INS Trata, had been labeled a “security threat” by the Indian Navy and also chided for not obtaining a ‘No-objection Certificate’ (NOC) prior to construction. On the basis of the Navy complaint, BEST had cut off power supply to the apartment in May 2010. After this, the ‘Har Siddhi’ residents filed a complaint against ‘Adarsh’ to Sanjiv Bhasin, head of Western Naval Command, as it too had violated regulatory norms.

Current status
The Adarsh scam has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Defence Ministry has recommend punitive action against the offenders. Both the Army and Navy have raised security concerns about the 31-storey apartment, which has come up in a military zone housing a naval air base; the Navy has denied issuing a ‘No-objection certificate’ (NOC) and an initial defence probe concludes that ‘prima facie’ there appears to be a ‘criminal conspiracy’ hatched by defence personnel in collusion with the housing society promoters.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has denied issuing a ‘Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance’ or a NOC to the Adarsh Housing Co-operative Society in March 2003. The Adarsh apartment is over 100 m in length, while the CRZ ceiling is up to 30 m. (CRZ rules were introduced in the 1990s. CRZ include areas, which are ‘up to 500 m on the landward side of high-tide lines and the areas around rivers and creek’. Property developments are not allowed in the CRZ-1. CRZ-2 comprises areas where sizable developmental work took place prior to the imposition of the CRZ rules. Nearly 38 percent of Mumbai fall under CRZ-2. As per the CRZ rules, any project worth Rs 5 crore or more needs approval from the Maharshtra Coastal Zone Management and the Ministry of Environment & Forests.)

The building has reportedly been constructed on defence property, a fact that has been contested by the Maharashtra CM. The CBI is trying to find out how the defence property got transferred to Adarsh; how the land got transferred from CRZ-I to CRZ-II (to facilitate development) and how the beneficiaries financed their purchase.

The housing society bought the plot for Rs 10 crore from the state government (at one third of the market value); subsequently the state government allowed an additional Floor Space Index (FSI) for the plot in exchange of Rs 6 crore. [A higher FSI translates to a greater built -up area]. By 2007, the original six-storey building had obtained regulatory permission to become a 31-storied apartment, in violation of the Coastal Regulatory Zone II regulations, where the plot falls.

On 2 November 2010, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) disconnected power and water supply to the Adarsh Housing Society respectively, after the state government revoked the building’s occupancy certificate.

The government stand…
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had offered to step down in view of the Adarsh controversy but was asked to wait due to political compulsions and due to the impending Obama visit. On 9 November his resignation was accepted by the Congress high command.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and defence minister AK Antony comprise the two-member AICC inquiry committee set up to look into the Adarsh controversy. The Urban Development Department has opined that the Adarsh society has flouted the CRZ norms. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has said that the Adarsh housing society has violated environmental laws and will face legal action for the same; he even suggested that some of the flats of the controversial high-rise might face demolition.


Conclusion
The disputed Adarsh apartment constructed on a 6,450 sq m plot in the Colaba naval area houses around 104 members many apparently proxy owners. To conclude, corruption has spread its fangs far and wide in the overpriced Mumbai real estate market; Army chief Gen V K Singh has regretted that the Adarsh controversy has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Armed forces and the political opposition is gunning for a full fledged enquiry. What waits to be seen is will this too blow over till a new controversy takes its place or will justice be met.