Six politicians spared
In a reversal of its earlier decision to reject the crucial Inquiry Commission’s findings on Adarsh scam, the Congress-led DF Government on Thursday distanced itself from former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and six others indicted for quid pro quo acts in the Commission’s report and let them fend for themselves in the ongoing CBI probe against them.
It, however, spared six senior politicians, including Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, for extending “political patronage” to the controversial Adarsh housing society. less than a week after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi publicly disagreed with the DF Government’s decision to reject the Adarsh Commission report and said that the decision needed to be re-considered, a chastened Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan resorted to a damage control exercise by partially accepting the recommendations in the report and citing technical reasons like pending court cases for not implementing in toto the findings.
Not unexpectedly, the State Government took recourse to the “no-criminality” ruse to let off the hook six senior politicians — late Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar, Ashok Chavan - and two former Urban Development Department Ministers Sunil Tatkare and Rajesh Tope indicted in the report for extending “political patronage” to Adarsh Housing Society.
“In case of political patronage, the Commission has not come to any conclusion that the six indicted politicians indulged in a criminal act. Hence, there is no question of our initiating any action against them,” the Chief Minister said.
Talking to media persons after the weekly State Cabinet meeting, Chavan said that the State agencies would not be filing a separate FIR against seven public servants, including Ashok Chavan, in the Adarsh scam case, since the names of five persons figured in the list of 13 accused named by the CBI in its FIR filed on January 29, 2011 and subsequent chargesheet filed in the case.
“We have taken legal opinion in the matter. The opinion is that not more than one FIR can be filed in the same case as the case with Adarsh scam. The CBI has already filed a FIR and charge sheet. Under such circumstances, there is no need for our agencies filing a separate case against the seven persons indicted for quid pro quo acts,” the Chief Minister said.
Despite repeated questions, the Chief Minister chose to remain vague on the fate of the prosecution against Ashok Chavan in view of Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan’s refusal to grant sanction for prosecution of the latter and its matter-of-fact admission that the State Government would not come in the way of the indicted former Chief Minister’s prosecution by the CBI.
While there was no immediate reaction from Raj Bhavan as to the turnabout done by the DF Government vis-à-vis Adarsh Commission’s findings, Mumbai-based CBI’s Joint Director Keshav Kumar told The Pioneer: “We are examining the issue” Kumar came up this reaction, when asked if the CBI would be approaching the Governor for reconsideration of his earlier decision in the view of the acceptance of major chunk of the recommendations of the Adarsh Commission report.
Social activist Pravin Wategaonkar, who has several cases and applications in trial court and High Court in matters relating to the Adarsh scam, said: “While the Governor is well within his rights to accept or reject an application for sanction for prosecution of a public servant. The Governor’s decision will have no bearing on the trial court which will decide in the matter on the basis of evidence before it”.
Informed political sources said that in view of the “stay-clear-of-Ashok Chavan” taken by the state government, the Governor might either suo moto reverse his decision vis-à-vis Ashok Chavan or wait for such a fresh request from the CBI.
Among other things, the State Government announced its plans to cancel then flat allotments made to 25 “ineligible” persons - as named in the Inquiry Commission report and to initiate action against 12 senior bureaucrats who have their violated the service rules.