‘Stringent action will be taken against officers involved in Adarsh scam’: Army Chief

NEW DELHI - Army Chief General V. K. Singh on Wednesday said an internal inquiry is on against the officers named in Mumbai’s Adarsh Housing Society scam, and added that stringent action would be taken against those found guilty.

“See the thing is that according to army’s law, inquiry has to be conducted. Because the case (Adarsh Housing Society scam) is with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and when CBI hands over some inquiry details to us, then we will forward it,” General Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function to mark the ‘Veer Naari Divas’ organised by the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) here.

“The internal inquiry is on, when internal inquiry will be over, then we can take action against those who will be found guilty,” he added, while highlighting the ongoing inquiry by the army.

General Singh in his address at the ‘Veer Naari Divas’ function said the army wants to assure the brave soldiers and their confident wives that all of them are the members of army’s fraternity.

“In tune with the espirit-de-corps, the Indian army would never ignore or forget them,” he said.

General Singh had on Saturday said that appropriate action would be taken against all those army personnel involved in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

Earlier today, Defence Minister A K Antony said the government and the armed forces will not spare any person, who is found guilty of wrongdoing in Mumbai’s Adarsh Housing Society scam.

The 31-storey Adarsh Society, originally meant for Kargil war heroes, landed in controversy after media reports said several politicians, bureaucrats and defence personnel owned flats there.

The CBI had on November 15 registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) to probe the alleged role of former and serving Army officers, with the permission of Defence Minister A K Antony.

The plush housing Society, built on prime defence land, has been constructed in alleged violation of rules. It was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and their kin, but was later extended to 31 floors without mandatory permission.

The exposure of the scam forced the Congress party to seek the resignation of then Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

On the occasion, General Singh also spoke about the database, which keeps record of every soldier.

He said the Indian Army is hoping to soon get an updated database through which the upkeep of personnel records would become reckonable and easier.

“Our database is maintained properly and I am not talking only about Army Headquarters. Because it is Unit’s database, the Unit doesn’t tell it to Centre, the Centre does not maintain it. There is no attachment in people with each other. Database of soldiers who fought is updated but we get less information about soldiers who are not amongst us due to some other reasons,” said General Singh.

“So, now our effort is that we will make database of such a type that while sitting here we can see the database of every Centre and can also see their loopholes,” he added.

The Army Chief later along with his wife Bharti Singh, who is the President of AWWA, presented specialized scooters to disabled soldiers, financial assistance to widows and education scholarships to wards of fatal casualties on the event.(ANI)