Union Minister for Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday refuted allegations that he cleared the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society file on the last date of his tenure as Maharashtra Chief Minister or that he attempted to falsify records.
(Rules were allegedly violated in various phases of construction in the Adarsh Society. Questions were raised on the manner in which apartments were allocated to bureaucrats, politicians and army personnel who had nothing to do with the Kargil war and the way in which clearances were obtained for the construction of the building.)In an affidavit filed before the two-member Adarsh Enquiry Commission, Mr. Deshmukh refuted all charges levelled by Right to Information activist Santosh Daundkar. “These allegations are totally misconceived and thoroughly un-meritorious… Shri Daundkar is seeking to mislead this Commission by misreading the endorsement made by the Finance Department.”
Also, “the suggestion that I ordered allotment of land to Adarsh in an irregular and/or improper manner to favour Shri [Kanhaiyalal] Gidwani [former member of the Legislative Council] is, wholly mischievous,” he said.
“Adarsh had made several requests for allotment of the land in question to various Ministers/Chief Ministers from time to time. On the request made to me, I merely endorsed “Please call for the proposal and put up.” This was a routine noting.”
Mr. Deshmukh refuted the charge that there was selective reduction of a small portion of Captain Prakash Pethe Marg adjacent to the Adarsh society. He said there was a move to widen the road in view of the proposed two Trans-Harbour links. But because that proposal was dropped, the road widening proposal became redundant and was scrapped.
