Ahmedabad housing scam survived three inquiries

Ahmedabad housing scam survived three inquiries
DARSHAN DESAI

GANDHINAGAR, NOVEMBER 22: That it had been a one long party for the IAS and IPS officers at Ahmedabad's Sumangalam Co-operative Housing Society at Bodakdev in Ahmedabad was well-known. Conscientious officials had drawn the state government's attention to the scandal. Between 1995 and 1997 there were three inquiries but to no avail. The 54 IAS and IPS officials involved survived unscathed. Till this month when the Gujarat HC initiated action on its own when it was sent a photocopy of the government record pertaining to the case.

The ``housing'' colony, off upmarket Drive-In Road, violated rules and norms with impunity. Land was leased out by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) for residential purposes in 1990 when one of the members was AUDA Chairman. Today, the area buzzes with commercial activities.

The high court has pointed out that AUDA had allotted land without an application, officials had made false affidavits to get the land and then divided it into bigger plots than allowed. Flats and commercial buildings have come up on these plots. Many have sold them off to make money.

The members include Chief Secretary L N S Mukundan, former chief secretaries H K Khan and K V Harihardas, Delhi Development Authority Vice-Chairman P K Ghosh, former DGPs K V Joseph and S N Sinha and several other senior officials.

Since 1990, when the society was set up, the state has seen seven governments -- two of the Congress, one of the Janata Dal (G), two of the BJP and two of the RJP -- Keshubhai's is the eighth -- with a stint of Governor's rule in between.

Additional Chief Secretary P V Swaminathan was the first to be asked to conduct an inquiry in 1995 but he retired without completing the work. Next year, the Suresh Mehta government entrusted another Additional Chief Secretary, V Krishnamurthy, with the job but he, too, retired without wrapping it up. In 1997, another official of an equal rank and now retired Vigilance Commissioner P P Rathod was asked to look into the matter but the then Chief Minister, Shankarsinh Vaghela, put a lid over it. The Keshubhai Patel government did nothing.

As early as in 1995, R Parthasarthy, an IAS officer whose conscience was troubling him after he noticed the irregularities when he was posted as Revenue Secretary, sent reports to the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary, calling for an exhaustive inquiry and strict action. All he got in response was a social boycott by the IAS fraternity.

In his report dated March 16, 1995, which he had submitted to the Chief Secretary, Parthasarthy had stated that the government should ask AUDA to cancel the lease and recommended criminal proceedings against the promoters and office-bearers of the society.

Interestingly, his report revealed that there were three registered Sumangalam Societies -- two in Ahmedabad and one in Gandhinagar! The two Ahmedabad colonies had the same address and had at least 10 common members. Six IAS and IPS officials were found to be members of all three societies. Some members of the Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad societies had either concealed this information or filed false affidavits, the report said.

A division bench of the HC last week, in an interim order, directed the Registrar of Co-operative Societies to submit within 15 days a report on what action would be taken against the officials who had filed false affidavits. It ordered sealing of the premises and also said that rent from the residential premises which were not being used by the allottees themselves be deposited in a separate account.