Adarsh scam, a case of fence eating crop: CAG

Terming the Adarsh Housing Society scam a classic example of fence eating the crops, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Tuesday said rules were flouted to benefit relatives of politicians, public servants and military authorities.

It its 51-page report on Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the government auditor accused the politicians and bureaucracy for usurping public land for “personal aggrandisement”. The report, which has named two former chief ministers of Maharashtra–Ashok Chavan and Sushil Kumar Shinde—for giving clearances to the project, also blamed the state government for giving several concessions to the Housing Society.

Also named in the report are former army chiefs General N C Vij and General Deepak Kapoor, former navy chief Admiral Madhevendra Singh and former navy vice-chief Vice-Admiral R P Suthan.

“It is a classic example of fence eating the crop; of those holding fiduciary responsibility betraying the same for personal aggrandisement,” the report stated.

The Union Environment Ministry and the Maharashtra Urban Development Ministry have also come under fire for violating laws to enable grant of No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to the housing society.

“It reflects a consistent failure across all departments, state and central governments and across sections of officialdom,” the report said.

It went on to say that “this case would have perhaps no parallel anywhere else in the country where all the agencies concerned have pooled the strengths not for a common national cause, but for personal benefits.”The auditor report also noted the welfare of servicemen and ex-servicemen was used as a ruse to grab piece of public land for the society.

Coming down heavily on former generals, the report noted that “notable among Service officers who became members of the Society at a later date were two former Army chiefs General N C Vij and Deepak Kapoor.”

“In the name of welfare of servicemen and ex-servicemen, it was the select elite belonging to Services and civil administration, politicians and individuals connected with them who benefited from this misappropriation of public property,” it said.

The report has accused the military department for misappropriation of prime government land.