Clear-cut manipulation in Adarsh case: HC

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Maharashtra government and its back-scratching bureaucrats for clear-cut manipulation in favour of the Adarsh housing society.
Pulling no punches, a bench of Justices B H Marlapalle and U D Salvi said: “There is clear-cut manipulation by the collectorate, revenue ministry and the urban development ministry in the case. Everyone who was supposed to clear the file has been gifted (a flat).”
The judges were hearing a petition filed by the society to challenge last month’s withdrawal of power and water supply to the building.
The court grilled junior lawyer Ranjit Bhosale who represented the state on why no action had been taken so far against the civil servants who benefited by clearing the Adarsh file. In particular, it questioned the manner in which a number of civilian members had been added to the society that was originally proposed to house only defence persons. “You enter a temple, ring the bell and get prasad. Here it is not so,” said Justice Marlapalle. “We don’t have any objection to societies being formed by IAS officers or IPS, but here how could civilians be added one by one rendering the defence personnel in minority?”
“We want to know what the state proposes to do against these officers. Please do not say we will set up a commission. We have seen so many commissions, including the Justice Srikrishna commission and Gundewar commission. Commissions never work,” the court observed.