Army report: Land under water till BEST reclaimed it in 1973

It adds that in 1956,the state government agreed to hand over the Colaba block VI plot (Adarsh land) to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in exchange of a defence land in Santacruz,which was transferred to the state government for the construction of the Western Expressway. While the Santacruz land was transferred,almost a decade later,the Collector of Mumbai informed the Military Estates Office that the state government had decided not to transfer the Block VI land to the defence. Following this,the issue was not pursued by the defence,the report points out. In 1973,BEST was handed over the Colaba plot by the government for a bus depot,after which the land was reclaimed from the sea.

The Adarsh Society has claimed that the report,which has surfaced from voluminous documents submitted by the Army to the judicial panel,is in complete contrast to the Army’s affidavit filed in March. The Army affidavit states the Centre/MoD has always been the owner of the land. It states,“The building has been constructed on the land which was existing even in 1897 before any reclamation took place.”

Saket Mone,counsel for Adarsh society,said: “The Army has always held that the land has existed from before and was never reclaimed. Their own 2010 report clearly states that the land was reclaimed by BEST and the state government handed it over to the Adarsh society later,” he said.

However,MoD counsel Dhiren Shah dismissed the Army’s confidential report. “I have not seen the report,but if it states that BEST has reclaimed the land,it is contradictory. Some officer who was not aware of the facts could have prepared the brief and it is not the correct picture; the land was not reclaimed by the BEST.”