ED Officials inspect flats in Adarsh housing society

In more trouble for the beleagured Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, accompanied by a valuer, inspected the Colaba tower and measured the flats on Wednesday. Officials refused to comment, but sources said the ED is collating details about the property to act against the society. Meanwhile, the society wrote to the ED seeking three months' time to submit the required documents or alternatively, to get it from the CBI, which had collected the documents during its investigation. The society also urged the ED to give it 15 days' advance notice before taking any action, including attaching the building. In 2016, the Supreme Court had ordered the army to take over the building for security reasons and sealed most of the flats. Only a dozen flats are unlocked. All flats in the building are unoccupied. The Adarsh scam broke out in 2010, when it was revealed that the 31-storey tower was built flouting construction norms and environmental rules. Government officials had sanctioned plans and approved files to expand the society proposed for defence personnel to allot flats to civilians, including families of politicians and bureaucrats. Senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan was named an accused in the case and was forced to resign as chief minister. In December 2017, the Bombay high court ordered quashing a belated sanction for prosecuting Chavan in the scam.