Former judge, chief secretary will head Adarsh probe panel

Finally, the State Government is learnt to have finalised the names of retired High Court judge J A Patil and former Chief Secretary P Subramanium to head the probe panel to inquire into the Adarsh housing society scam.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had announced during the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur that a probe panel would be constituted to inquire into the alleged shenanigans of bureaucrats and politicos in clearing the files and documents relating to the controversial housing society.

However, the government faced the problem of finding a suitable former judge and ex- chief secretary who had not availed of any such government housing schemes. Hence, the search was intensified and they found the appropriate persons to head the panel, said reliable Mantralaya sources.

Retired judge J A Patil belongs to Pune and served in the Bombay High Court from 1997 to 2003 while Subramanium is the former chief secretary of Maharashtra who served as such from August 31, 1997 to May 25, 1999. He was also chairman of the MERC. The official announcement about their names would be made once Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is on a two- day visit to the metropolis, leaves for Delhi.

The Adarsh scam saw Ashok Chavan step down as CM, followed by bureaucrat Subhash Lalla as a member of the State Human Right commission, Ramanand Tiwari is next on the chopping block and legal proceedings would be initiated against him within the next 24 hours.