A day after Anna Hazare moved the Bombay High Court seeking a Commission of Inquiry of Inquiry under a retired Supreme Court judge to probe the allegations against him, his nephew Ajit Pawar and others in what the social activist called Rs25,000 crore co-operative sugar factories scam, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday threatened to file a defamation suit against Hazare.
Talking to media persons at Thane, Pawar said, “I am taking legal opinion in this regard and would file criminal as well as civil suits in the courts”.
Alluding to the public interest litigation filed by Hazare and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana MP Raju Shetti, Pawar said, “With the PIl in the high court, we will get an opportunity to explain as to what all we have done to save the crippling co-operative sugar industry in the State”. Pawar, however, wondered as to from where Hazare had arrived at the figure of Rs25,000 being the “loss” allegedly caused by him and his nephew Ajit Pawar to the State exchequer through the “mismanagement” and “disintegration” of sugar cooperative factories in the State.
“Whatever we did then was to save the Sugar industry and our intention was very clear. Those who term themselves as Jana sevaks make such kinds of wild and baseless allegations,”Pawar said.
The PIl filed by Hazare states: "There may not be any direct evidence to prove the involvement of Sharad Pawar or Ajit Pawar or other high-level officials in this scam of unfathomable degree. But there is more than sufficient circumstantial evidence showing their connection..."
Pawar was Union agriculture minister at the relevant time and ex-officio president of the Vasantdada Sugar Institute, while Ajit Pawar was then deputy chief minister of Maharashtra and a director of Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank.
In a criminal PIl and two civil PIls filed in the court, Hazare has raised corruption issues in the functioning of sugar factories in Maharashtra.
Among other things, Hazare has sought establishment of a panel under the Commission of Enquiry Act, under a retired Supreme Court judge, within four weeks. He has also made the C BI a respondent in the case.
Hazare explained that the scam, into which he demanded probe, involved "burdening cooperative sugar factories with debt and then selling them at throwaway rates causing a loss of early Rs 25,000 crore to the government exchequer, the cooperative sector and public". He also demanded an inquiry into the sale of 43 sugar factories.
The veteran activist has sought a probe into what he said was a scam that first involved "burdening cooperative sugar factories with debt and then selling them at throwaway rates causing a loss of early Rs 25,000 crore to the government exchequer, the cooperative sector and public". He has sought an enquiry into the sale of 43 sugar factories.
The high court will hear Hazare’s petition on January 6.