Mumbai land deal report with Antony,Army Chief says will act

We received the report and we are examining it,said Antony.

Union Defence Minister A K Antony and Army Chief General V K Singh both said here today that the report of the Southern Army Commander on the illegal sale and transfer of land in Kandivili in Mumbai is being examined with the Army chief suggesting follow-up action.

The Indian Express had today reported that an Army inquiry report had criticised the sale of 1 acre in Kandivali,given on rent to the Army since 1942,to Neo-Pharma of the Kalpataru group by the state government.

In their defence,the state government and Kalpataru both claimed that Defence authorities were apprised of the proposal from Kalpataru to develop this land and they never raised objections until after the sale.

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The Armys inquiry report,written by Lt Gen Pradeep Khanna,said that the then Union Defence Production Minister Rao Inderjit Singh and Army chief General Deepak Kapoor had intervened to help effect the sale.

We received the report and we are examining it, said Antony.

When asked if the Army was considering a CBI probe,Army Chief General V K Singh said: We have received the report from the Southern Army Commander. We will have to do something of that sort.

Former Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said today that he could not recall any note written by his Private Secretary calling for transfer of land.

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I do not know if there was a note written by my Private Secretary…no such file came to me for a decision on it. Such decisions cannot be taken or communicated by a Private Secretary,only the concerned departments designated officers do it,he said in a written statement.

He said that he was Minister of Defence Production while the issue of land allocation/acquisition was in the domain of the Directorate of Estate,a department that was not under him and so he could not have influenced decisions of the Directorate.

But records with The Indian Express show that a note was indeed sent by his P.S.,Abhilaksh Likhi,on November 15,2007.

The note said: Apropos the telephonic conversation the Honble RURM (Raksha Utpadan Rajya Mantri) had with Chief of Army Staff today afternoon,kindly find enclosed a note received by RURM regarding acquisition of strip of land bearing CTS 135 and 136 at Village Akurli adjacent to Central Ordnance Depot Kandivali at Mumbai. It is requested that this note may be put up to COAS for appropriate action.

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As reported yesterday in The Indian Express,this note justified the sale of the land and said that despite the Collector rejecting their claim,the Defence authorities have now suddenly put up a tent on the said land in order to obstruct development by M/s Neo Pharma and that this is a grave injustice to the rights of Neo Pharma.

It was after this note that the office of the then Southern Army Commander Lt General Noble Thamburaj (December 4,2007) and local area headquarters (January 22,2008) instructed the Central Ordnance Depot to remove all obstructions and report compliance.

Meanwhile,the BJP today called for an immediate,comprehensive audit and preparation of an inventory of all real estate assets of the Defence Ministry.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said such incidents were common in Maharashtra,which has been under Congress rule for the past 10 years. There seems to be a constant attempt at frittering away Defence land,particularly coming repeatedly from Maharashtra,its a matter of worry and concern, she said.