Adarsh indicts Shinde; Devyani was ineligible

Nagpur: The Adarsh inquiry commission has indicted four former CMs, including Ashok Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde, two NCP ministers and several bureaucrats.

The resultant handicap to military operations was ignored, the commission held. Twenty-five out of 102 members were found to be ineligible, including Dr Devyani Khobragade, former Union minister Suresh Prabhu and former state Assembly Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar.

Interestingly, the government has rejected the report, saying it does not agree with the commission’s conclusions.

"Adarsh is not a saga of ideal cooperation but it is a shameless tale of blatant violations of statutory provisions, rules and regulations. It reflects greed, nepotism and favouritism on the part of some people who were in one way or the other associated with the Adarsh CHS.

It is a sad story of unscrupulous greed of some persons closely connected with the said society," the commission remarked.

The commission has indicted former CM Ashok Chavan for giving permissions/clearances to the society as quid pro quo. Three relatives of Mr Chavan were given flats in the society and all of them were ineligible.

Apart from 25 ineligible members, the commission found that 22 flats were purchased through benami transactions. CM Prithviraj Chavan refused to comment on the report and its rejection.

"The Cabinet has rejected the report. Therefore there is no question of taking any action against anybody," he said.

In the case of former MoEF minister Suresh Prabhu, he was allotted a 1,076-sq.-foot flat in the society in 2008 when he did not occupy any official position.

As per society rules, only a government servant was eligible for that big a flat. Prabhu as a private person could have got only a 650-sq.-foot flat. The commission held that Prabhu fulfilled all other conditions and his transactions with the society were also clean.

The late Babasaheb Kupekar, former Assembly Speaker, also had a flat at Hiranandani, Powai, which was allotted to him under the CM’s quota. He had also understated his income as Rs 18,000 per month.

However, in a deposition before the commission, he admitted his salary as Speaker was not included in that.  "The commission feels very sorry for the incorrect, nay wrong, information given by  Kupekar regarding his actual income. A person who has adorned the high post of Speaker of the Legislative Assembly should not have made such a false statement as it does not befit him," the report said.