Defence Estate Officer eats up her words on Adarsh land

A day after telling the commission probing the Adarsh housing scam that there was 'no record' to show that the land on which Adarsh building now stands is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and that instead, it belonged to the state government, Defence Estate Officer Geeta Kashyap on Wednesday told the panel that the land was 'disputed'. Kashyap took this U-turn in her reply during crossexamination by Commission's counsel Dipan Merchant when he asked if she was aware of any record to show that the land was handed over by MoD to the State government and then subsequently occupied by the Adarsh CHS.

Merchant was reffering to an affidavit filed K B Nayyar, Under Secretary in MoD, in a petition before the Bombay High Court. The affidavit stated that " the Army was in occupation and possession of the entire Adarsh land and until possession of the plot appears to have been obtained from the Army by the state government and made over to the petitioners (Adarsh CHS)." "Are you aware when possession of the land was given by Army to the state government?'' asked Merchant.

Kashyap replied that she was not aware of any such handing over of land. Adding that the DEO would normally know of handing over of possession of all defence lands. When Merchant further asked if she was not aware of the ' transaction' because it was not Defence land, Kashyap disagreed.

She said it was not because the army was not in possession of the Adarsh land, that the DEO does not have any record regarding the transfer, but because it was a " disputed piece of land." When questioned about what steps were taken to " recover possession of the land and solve the dispute", Kashyap said apart from her report dated November 6, 2010 sent to her higher authorities ( Principal Director, Defence Estates) no other action had been taken.

"The DEO cannot suo moto institute court proceedings, that is the job of the MoD," she added. Kashyap said she is not aware of any suit filed by MoD or DEO to recover possession of the land or to settle the dispute.

Kashyap however admitted that she was aware of the Adarsh building coming up after she took over in October 2008. When asked whether she informed her superiors about the 31- storey building being a security threat, she replied that apart from her November 2010 report, she had not pointed out about the threat to any authorities.

The Commission will cross examine Major S K Lamba of the Mumbai Citizens Group. Lamba has filed an affidavit before the commission alleging that the state government had illegally handed over the plot of land to the Adarsh CHS. Lamba has also claimed that the Army was in physical possession of the land for over 40 years and that the state government did not have documents to prove they have ' clear title' of the controversial plot.