Adarsh report to be tabled in this session

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday assured the Bombay High Court that it would table the Adarsh inquiry commission report before the Assembly in the ongoing winter session.

The state BJP unit had filed a petition seeking tabling of the report before the Legislature.

Assistant government pleader G W Mattos informed a division bench of justices V M Kanade and M S Sonak that the report would be tabled during the Assembly session in Nagpur.

Incidentally, the state on Monday sought dismissal of the petition under Section 3(4) of the Commission of Inquiry Act, which empowers a government to desist from tabling a report. The court shot down the move and asked the government to clarify whether it would table the report in the winter session.

Senior counsel Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the petitioner, pointed out that the Public Accounts Committee had already submitted its report and total expenditure incurred by the commission crossed Rs 7 crore. If the report was not tabled, it would tantamount to fooling the people, he argued.

In the wake of a furore following the Adarsh Housing scam, the state government in January 2011 instituted a quasi-judicial commission headed by a retired judge to look into the allegations.

The commission, in its interim report, said the land belonged to the state and was not reserved for anybody.