Nobody will be spared in Adarsh scam, says Antony

Defence Minister A K Antony today said the government and the armed forces will not spare any person found guilty of wrongdoing in the Adarsh Housing Society scam in Mumbai.

"Whoever is found guilty will be punished. Nobody will be spared," he told reporters on the sidelines of an aerospace seminar here.

"Whenever there are allegations and they are proved, we take strong action. Whatever the allegation, the armed forces and the government is taking action. No other agency takes this strong action. Only armed forces are taking strong action," Antony said.

He was asked about the alleged involvement of senior serving and retired officers from the armed forces and defence ministry in getting prime army land in upscale Colaba transferred to the private housing society.

"There are two inquiries by CBI and the Army to fix responsibility. These investigations are going on. We will take whatever action is required. There will be no let up," he said.

"We want to maintain integrity. We will not ignore it," he added. The 31-storey housing society had come up on a piece of land within the security perimeter of the naval establishments in Colaba and the Navy raised an alarm, stating that the high rise posed a grave security risk as all vital installations were easily visible from atop the 100-metre tall building.

A Defence Ministry probe had revealed that several serving and retired Army officers and Defence Estates officials had colluded with the private housing society to construct the building there.

Antony had last month asked the CBI to probe the case, even as the Army ordered a court of inquiry into the role of its serving and retired officers in issuing a No-Objection Certificate

Asked about the ongoing probe into the Adarsh scam, Army chief General V K Singh said the force will act after the CBI provides more details of the case to it.

"Inquiry is being done as per the provisions of the Army Act. The case is with CBI also and when they provide us some more details, then we will proceed further with our inquiry," he told reporters here.

Gen Singh said Army's Court of Inquiry was on in the case and "when it is completed, we will take action against those serving officers." He was asked why the Army had taken action against only one serving Major General whereas names of 37 serving defence officers had cropped up earlier.

The Army has imposed a Discipline and Vigilance (DV) ban against Maj Gen R K Hooda, who had served as the GOC of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa area in the recent past.
Asked how many officers were being investigated by the Army, Gen Singh said, "Telling the numbers is difficult because I am not doing the inquiry. Somebody else is doing that and they should be allowed to do it."

Asked if the 31-storey building was considered to be a security threat and should be demolished, he said, "I don't know what recommendations have been given by the Western Naval Command... what decision has to be taken on that issue, we have to see that."