Thaindian News

Mumbai, Feb 15 (IANS) Members of the scam-hit Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society have moved the Bombay High Court challenging the union environment ministry’s demolition order against its 31-storey building here, a law firm said Tuesday.The petition was filed Monday by Ameet Naik of Naik Paranjpe and Company, on behalf of the members. According to the petition, all necessary permissions were taken by the society from government departments for the building in Mumbai’s plush Colaba locality.

“The society has complied with all the regulations and has taken necessary permission from the government,” said the petition, while opposing the demolition order.

The ministry Jan 16 ordered that the scam-hit society’s building be demolished within three months for violating the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 1991.

The building was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil War heroes and their kin but additional floors were added to it taking the final total to 31 floors, allegedly without mandatory permission.

Under the CRZ Notification, permission has to be sought for any construction in coastal areas. The ministry, in its order, concluded that the Adarsh society had not obtained the necessary clearance under the notification.

Among other things, the society was accused of usurping a prime plot of defence land, violating floor space index rules and flouting CRZ norms and other rules.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan has also been named in a first information report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the scam last month.

Chavan quit November 2010 after his name cropped up in the scam. Following Chavan’s exit, state human rights commission member Subhash Lalla also quit for the same reason.

Besides, the state government is also looking into the role of various bureaucrats whose names have cropped up in the scam.