CBI wants to save Ashok Chavan on Adarsh
With the Central Bureau of Investigation preparing to let off the hook the prime accused in the Adarsh Housing Society scam, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, it is again painfully clear that the country's premier investigation agency remains subservient to its political masters. Earlier this week, the Union Government granted some freedom to the CBI, mostly to allow for greater financial independence (which may in the long run pave the way for functional autonomy), but for now, the agency remains beholden to the political establishment. On Thursday, the CBI appealed to a Sessions Court in Mumbai to drop Mr Chavan from the charge-sheet it had filed in the Adarsh case. This is because last month the Governor of Maharashtra denied the agency the necessary permission to prosecute the former Chief Minister on charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating. According to the agency, it, therefore, now has no choice but to withdraw its charges against Mr Chavan. Its legal team has decided that it cannot appeal against the Governor's decision as he holds a constitutional position. However, other legal experts have argued that the Governor's power to grant sanction for the Chief Minister's prosecution stems from Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code and is henceforth a statutory exercise, as opposed to a constitutional duty. This then allows the CBI to challenge the Governor's decision before a higher court — and is in keeping with a well-established principle of law that criminality of an individual cannot be excused under the garb of exercising constitutional or statutory powers. Against this backdrop, the CBI's decision to not contest the decision is disappointing. Hopefully, the court will force the agency's hand when it rules on the appeal on Saturday.
But assuming even that the appeal is accepted and Mr Chavan's name dropped from the charge-sheet, the CBI still has the option of going back to the Governor with another request for sanction, if it can dig out fresh evidence against the former Chief Minister. As of now, there seems to be no reason why the CBI cannot put together a water-tight case against him. let us not forget that a two-member Commission of Inquiry formed to probe the Adarsh scam had found enough evidence against Mr Chavan to nail him for abusing his powers and granting special favours to the housing society.
Finally, even as the CBI wades through the legalities, there is no reason why the Government of Maharashtra cannot step in and file a new criminal complaint against Mr Chavan. After all, the regime had partially accepted the probe panel's report earlier this month but at that time also refused to proceed against Mr Chavan because the CBI had already taken action against him. But, if Mr Chavan is dropped from the charge-sheet now, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has no excuse to not proceed against him. However, given the manner in which the Congress regime in Maharashtra has shielded all its leaders in the Adarsh scam — it has made clear that will not take any action against either the three other former Chief Ministers or the two Ministers of State named in the report — it is unlikely that Mr Chavan will be held accountable.