Ex-service chiefs give up Adarsh flats

General (retd) N C Vij and General (retd) Deepak Kapoor, and Admiral (retd) Madhavendra Singh said the episode has caused great anguish to them as at no point of time did they have any idea that the flats were meant for the widows of personnel died in the Kargil war.
Among the 37 defence personnel who have been allotted flats in the building are four successive General Officers Commanding (GOCs) of the Pune-based Southern Army Command, which overlooks the Mumbai sub-area. Of them three are retired generals, while one is a serving general.

 Many of them are now rushing in to emulate the example of their former Army bosses. An unconfirmed report said almost 40 members of the 104-strong Society, including relatives of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, have either surrendered their flats or expressed their desire to do so, through written communication to the Society.

The Army is probing whether the land on which the Society constructed the 31-storey high rise belonged to it or to the Maharashtra government, as claimed by the Society. The defence officials concerned had actually issued a No Objection Certificate to the Society, stating that the land does not belong to the Army.

The role of retired Major  General T K Kaul in the housing scam is of particular interest. Kaul, then a brigadier, was the sub-area commander in Mumbai when the project was initiated. He is reported to have worked closely with Brigadier (retired) M M Wanchu, currently the president of Adarsh Society.

Two other retired generals under the scanner are Lt Gen Tejinder Singh and Major General V S Yadav. The only serving officer to have got the flat is Major General R K Hooda, who is presently posted at the Army headquarters in Delhi.