Subhash Lalla became the first bureaucrat to quit over the Adarsh Housing scam, putting in his papers on Monday as a member of the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission. Lalla?s relatives own a flat in the housing society.
Lalla was secretary in the chief minister?s office when the housing society?s file was being processed. Vilasrao Deshmukh was the chief minister at the time.
The retired IAS officer said membership of his relatives in the Adarsh Society was much prior to his coming to Mantralaya in 2000, and it was on account of the fact that his father was a defence personnel. Denying any role or financial involvement in the purchase of flats in the society, he said his name had been ?unfortunately? and ?unfairly? dragged in. He called his resignation ?voluntary? and said he had stepped down not on account of any feeling of guilt or wrongdoing but to maintain the dignity of the human rights panel and to avoid further embarrassment to the government or to himself.
?My father, the late Shaligram Lalla, who worked in Military Engineering Services, retired from Kamptee Cantonment in Nagpur district and continued to stay there during his post-retirement period. R C Thakur, the chief promoter of Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society, was my father?s neighbour. Because of this good social relationship between them, my father was taken as a member of the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society, which was originally meant for defence and defence allied personnel and their families,? Lalla said.
?After my father?s death, the membership was given to my mother Sushila Shaligram. My daughter was inducted as a member, as there were some vacancies available during that initial period of society formation, because of relation with defence personnel. My mother has been a member of this society since July 1998 and my daughter since April 1999.
?I was posted in Mantralaya for the first time in mid-2000 as a secretary to the social justice department and to chief minister?s office much later in 2004,? he added.