Army takes over Adarsh building

New Delhi: Following the Supreme Court ordering the Centre to take possession of the Adarsh building, the Indian Army on Friday took over the building from the society.

The apex court had ordered the Central Government to take over possession of Adarsh Building, during pendency of the SLP filed by Adarsh Society. On behalf of the, the Indian Army took over the possession of the building from Aadarsh Society to ensure its security and prevent any encroachment. The process was supervised by a Registrar nominated by Bombay High Court.

Earlier, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to secure the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society within a week and ensure that no demolition took place while securing the 31-storey Colaba building located next to defence installations. Directing the society that they will not be permitted anymore to deal in the matter, the apex court gave the reigns to the government.

This came as a major blow to the society which was hoping for an intervention by the Supreme Court, after it lost its battle against an order of demolition issued by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) for environmental zone violations The Adarsh scandal first came to notice in 2003 when it was reported that a high rise building was coming up in Colaba, close to military installations, overriding objections.

The society which was promoting the venture had a large number of senior military officers, politicians and bureaucrats as its members, even though it was meant to be for war heroes.