Pages from Adarsh files go missing, now from MoD headquarters

Some pages from files pertaining to the controversial Adarsh Housing Society have gone missing from the city-based state headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, the judicial panel probing into the high-rise scam was told today.

MoD counsel Dhiren Shah informed the two-member commission that a particular noting on the communication between Major General S S Jog and then GOC of Army Headquarters (Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa), A R Kumar, was missing from the files.

"The noting made in March/April 2000 is about Jog, then administrative staff officer to Kumar, and it was about disagreeing to the no objection certificate issued by the army to the Mumbai collector for construction of Adarsh society," Shah said.

"Kumar, an accused in the case registered by CBI, had not paid heed to Jog's noting and had directed him to issue the NOC to the collector," the counsel said. The commission is currently recording the evidence of Jog.

Earlier, files on Adarsh society had gone missing from the state Urban Development Department and the New Delhi office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The missing files from MOEF contained the society's proposal, forwarded by the state government to the Union ministry, seeking clearance for its construction. The ministry had replied that since the plot of land fell in CRZ, the permission was required from Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority.

After the controversy broke out last year, four pages pertaining to the deletion of a nearby road from civic plans for giving more FSI to the society, and CRZ clearances, were found missing from the Urban Development Department office. CBI, which is probing the case, has been informed by the Defence Ministry about the missing papers.