SC Bench asks Centre to take over Adarsh building from housing society

The 31-storey scam-tainted Adarsh apartments, built at Colaba in posh South Mumbai, for Kargil war heroes and war widows, will not be demolished for the time being with the Supreme Court on Friday asking the Centre to secure it after taking possession from the housing society by August five, according to a news agency report.

When the Adarsh Housing Society insisted that the Bombay High Court decision ordering demolition be stayed, a Bench comprising Justices J. Chelemeswar and A.M. Sapre said the word “secure” meant that there will be no razing.

“We will secure the building and the land and there will be no demolition,” Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, assured the Bench which also issued notices on a batch of pleas, filed against the High Court order, by the housing society and some allottees.

“Issue notice. There shall be no interim order… except the fact that the Government of India will take possession of the building in question and secure it within one week from today [Friday],” said the Bench and later extended time till August 5 saying the possession be handed over on or before the date fixed.

It asked the Registrar General of the Bombay High Court to ensure that either he or another Registrar, nominated by him, supervise the handing over of the building.

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Simultaneously, an inventory of documents pertaining to the apartments should be prepared and handed over to the housing society to enable it to pursue its legal battles in various courts of law, the Bench said.

Earlier, the High Court had ordered demolition of the apartments and had sought initiation of criminal proceedings against politicians and bureaucrats for “misuse” of powers, holding that the tower was illegally constructed.

During hearing senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the society, pleaded for stay on the High Court order saying that at present, the building is “uninhabitable” as the water and electricity supply have been cut.