The Defence Ministry and the Armed Forces were stung by the scam in Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai involving top serving and retired generals in 2010, leading to the case being handed over to CBI for investigating the rot in the system of defence land management.
Former army chiefs General Deepak Kapoor and General N C Vij, along with retired navy chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh, were named as some of the beneficiaries of the 31-storey apartment building that reportedly came up on an army land within the security perimeter of critical naval installations in upscale Colaba.
After the navy leadership in Mumbai shot off a letter to the Defence Ministry seeking a probe, it came to light that some serving army officers had allowed the building to come up in 2003 right under the military authorities’ nose, leading to the ministry asking CBI to probe the case.
Separately, the army also ordered a court of inquiry against serving officers, including the then Mumbai Area Army commander Maj Gen R K Hooda.
That apart, the Sukna land scam in West Bengal in which some top army officers from the military station in Siliguri district had issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) to a private builder for constructing an educational institution continued to keep the defence brass on the tight rope.
After a court of inquiry, Kapoor, who retired in March last year, had to order disciplinary action against his Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, who too had retired just about a month earlier.
Court martial was also ordered against Prakash, as also Lt Gen P K Rath, who was the station commander when the Sukna land NOC was issued to the private builder in 2009.
These land scams apart, Army’s then Engineer-in-Chief Lt Gen A K Nanda had to face allegations of misbehaving with the wife of another officer junior to him during an official visit to Israel in April last year.
A court of inquiry ordered into the allegations against Nanda said the charges could not be proved beyond doubt against him, but he did behave in a manner that went against service conduct.
DRDO too had failures in its efforts to develop weapon systems for the Armed Forces after nuclear-capable Prithvi-II 350-km range and Agni-II Plus ballistic missiles went dud during tests.
-via The Economic Times
