Mumbai, April 29: Bombay High Court today ordered the demolition of the 31-storey Adarsh Housing Society complex - tainted by a scam that led to the exit of a chief minister - on the ground that it was illegally constructed.
The order by a division bench came on an appeal by the society against a 2011 demolition order by the then UPA government.
Later, the bench allowed the society's members -politicians, bureaucrats and army officers - a stay of 12 weeks on the demolition after they sought time to appeal in the Supreme Court.
The stay was opposed by the BJP-Shiv Sena Maharashtra government and lawyer-activist Y.P. Singh, who has filed a PIL alleging multiple violations by the society. The government later announced that it would contest the stay in the apex court next week.
The high court asked the Union ministry of environment and forests to carry out the demolition "at the expense of the petitioners (the society)" for violation of coastal construction norms.
The building overlooking the Arabian Sea and several sensitive defence installations is built on prime land in Mumbai's Colaba. It was originally meant to house Kargil war veterans and war widows.
But media reports later uncovered a nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and senior army officers who were accused of bending rules over several years to get apartments in the building allotted for themselves or their relatives.
Today, the court asked the Centre and the state to consider criminal proceedings against such politicians and officials for "misuse" of powers.
When the scam came to light in 2010, the names of three Congress chief ministers and middle-level leaders along with some top BJP leaders from Maharashtra, at least one of whom is a current cabinet minister, were linked to the conspiracy.
The furore had led the UPA government to pass an order in January 2011 directing the society to demolish the unauthorised building within three months. The residents then went to the high court, culminating in today's order.
An investigation against politicians and officers accused of being beneficiaries of the scam led to the resignation in November 2010 of then chief minister Ashok Chavan, three of whose relatives were allotted flats in the building.
Chavan spent some time in political wilderness before the Congress-NCP government denied the CBI permission to prosecute him.
Now the Congress's state unit chief, Chavan said this evening that it would not be "appropriate" for him to comment on the high court verdict.
Last week, the current BJP-led government gave the CBI permission to prosecute Chavan.
