Adarsh scam: Defence Ministry to move court

The Defence Ministry would soon be moving a title suit in country’s apex court, claiming ownership of the contentious plot of land on which the 31-storeyed Adarsh building stands.

On Tuesday, the two-member judicial commission set up to look into certain aspects of the controversial Adarsh building, in its interim report tabled before the House, concluded that the land belonged to the state government and ‘not army as it was believed,' adding that there was 'no proposal for constructing any housing structure for Kargil war heroes and widows.’

Talking to the media here on Wednesday, Defence Ministry counsel in the Adarsh Judicial Commission, Aniket Nikam rubbishing the interim report, said that it has drawn its conclusion “on the basis of Maharashtra Land Revenue Code section 294 which states that ownership of unclaimed land belongs to the state.”

The Commission had not taken into cognizance  the submissions made by Defence Ministry in the matter, Nikam pointed out adding that it was not a simple case of ‘army possessing a piece of land for some time.’ Moreover, he argued that it would be erroneous to take the interim report’s conclusion as ‘a final word,’ as the title to any piece of land “cannot be established by a Commission set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act.”

He informed that the title to any disputed property can be established only by moving an appropriate court of law, “…and in this case it would be the Supreme Court. And this is where the Defence Ministry would be filing the title suit.”