"The whole Adarsh matter pertained to land allotment and was hence sent to the revenue department as that was the concerned department. Ashok Chavan was the Revenue Minister then," Deshmukh told the two-member inquiry commission set up by the state government to go into the scam.
Chavan, who had to step down as Chief Minister soon after the alleged scam surfaced, was Revenue Minister during Deshmukh's first stint as Maharashtra Chief Minister between 1999 and 2003.
Deposing before the panel for the second day, the 67-year-old Union Minister of Science and Technology also said the Revenue Minister had not brought to his notice at the time of issuing Letter of Intent (LOI) to Adarsh society for allotment of land that the plot did not have a property card or a survey number.
Deshmukh also said the decision to include civilians as members of the society, which was said to be exclusively meant for members of the defence services and war widows, was taken by Chavan.
"Adarsh society had written a letter to me in June 2000 stating that it had met with the Revenue Minister Ashok Chavan wherein it was agreed to include 40 per cent civilians as members in the society. The letter also mentions that the physical possession of the land in question was with the Army for the last 30 years. I sent the letter to the revenue department. The Revenue Minister, however, did not get back to me on the two issues," Dehsmukh said.
In his deposition yesterday, Deshmukh had said he was not informed by the revenue department that the land where the building stands was in possession of the Local Military Authority and a garden existed on the plot. More
