Adarsh: Files go missing from MOEF, Delhi office too

May 14, 2011 03:29 pm | Updated 09:27 pm IST - Mumbai

One of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests’ (MoEF) key files on the controversial Adarsh Housing Society – which it has ordered demolished -- has gone missing.

The file, which contains correspondence between the Ministry and the Maharashtra government, has been missing at least since the Adarsh scam was exposed last year. Admitting that the file could have been “weeded out” as it was not a permanent one, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh claims that since the file has been “reconstructed”, this is not a problem.

Incidentally, some files relating to the society have already gone missing from the Maharashtra Urban Development Department (UDD), leading to the arrest of three officials from that department on May 5.

MoEF’s file register shows that its own missing file was originally opened in Nov 2002, when it received a query from the state UDD about reducing the width of a road to accommodate a cooperative housing society named Adarsh.

“When the Adarsh story broke, we tried to find this file and the search continues,” said Mr. Ramesh “We have more than 10,000 files, a few in the record room and others bundled in various rooms and corridors. This file was not a permanent file, unlike files from where we give environment or coastal clearances or handle court cases, and it was liable to be weeded out.”

The MoEF informed the Maharashtra government’s Commission of Enquiry last month about the continuing search for the missing file.

However, a senior CBI official told news agency PTI that the matter came to the light when a CBI official visited the MoEF’s office in Delhi last week, seeking copies of the letters in the file. "The ministry officials said the files are untraceable. We have now asked them to give us a complaint in writing after which further course of action would be decided," the official told PTI.

The file contained the exchange of letters between the central and state government’s and included MoEF’s May 2003 letter, advising Adarsh to approach the state’s coastal zone management authority for a clearance, in accordance with the CRZ Notification 1991.

While Adarsh has claimed that it received a go-ahead of sorts from the Union Ministry, MoEF maintains that none of the documents in the missing file could be construed to be a coastal clearance or a no-objection certificate.

All the documents in the missing file have been “recompiled” and the “defendents were never prejudiced”, a senior Ministry official said. “All the actions taken by MoEF in the Adarsh CRZ violation case have been transparent and in public domain,” said Mr. Ramesh.

As MoEF holds that the Adarsh Housing Society ignored and violated coastal zone norms, it has ordered the demolition of the building. The matter is now in the courts.

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