HC wants 1st 12 floors of Adarsh handed to defence

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has proposed that the first 12 floors, including the ground floor of the controversial Adarsh housing society, should be handed over to the defence ministry and the rest should be taken over by the court receiver since land records and documents prove beyond doubt that this plot of land belongs to the defense department.

The promoters of Adarsh society have approached the high court against the state government's order cancelling the occupancy certificate issued to Adarsh society. Electricity and water supply are provided to any housing society only on the basis of occupancy certificate. In July 2004, the state government allowed Adarsh to take over a plot of land measuring 3,758 meters in Colaba for a little over ` 10 crore.

After the political uproar over the handover of this plot to Adarsh society, there was a dispute over whether this land belonged to Maharashtra revenue department or defence ministry. The high court made it clear on Tuesday that land records and various documents presented before it by the government and other agencies proved beyond doubt that this land belonged to defence department and priority for allotment should go to defense. The promoters of Adarsh are expected to respond to the court's proposal on Thursday.