Terming Maharashtra government’s objection to a CBI probe into the Adarsh scam as “illegal and mala fide”, the Defence Ministry on Wednesday rejected the ruling by a state-appointed judicial panel that the land on which the controversial building stands belongs to the state.
In an affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court, the ministry made it clear that it has not accepted the Judicial Commission’s ruling settling the ownership of the plot in favour of the state government, dubbing it as “completely flawed”.
“Dispute over the ownership of the land is not yet over. The Commission’s report is not binding on either the government or the court. The Ministry of Defence has not accepted the report.
“The report of the Commission is completely flawed, contrary to the evidence on record and is made on patently incorrect interpretation of law,” the Defence Ministry said in an affidavit filed before a division bench of Justices S A Bobade and Mridula Bhatkar.
The Maharashtra government and Adarsh Society have contested CBI’s jurisdiction to probe the alleged scam on the ground that neither the state nor the High Court had handed over the investigation to the central agency, as required under the law.
The CBI launched its probe into the scam on the direction of the Defence Ministry after an inquiry by the Army Chief. It formally registered an FIR in January last year.
At the last hearing, the Court had allowed the Defence Ministry to intervene in the PILs relating to the case and asked it to file its response to Maharashtra government’s stand that CBI cannot probe it. Accordingly, the ministry filed its affidavit today.
