In an interim relief to former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, the Bombay High Court on Thursday stayed his prosecution in the Adarsh scam case, in a lower court.
Hearing a petition filed by the CBI challenging the lower court’s order of January 18, 2014 rejecting its application to drop Chavan’s name from the list of accused in the Adarsh housing society scam case, Justice Sadhana Jadhav of the high court passed an interim order staying the former chief minister’s prosecution. The Judge, however, observed that the trial could go on against other accused in the case.The judge posted the CBI’s petition for further hearing, next week.
It may be recalled that Special Court Judge S G Dighe had, while dismissing the CBI’s plea for permission to drop Chavan’s name from the list of 13 accused in the Adarsh scam case. briefly stated on January 18, 2014: “The CBI's plea stands rejected". Chavan, it may be recalled, had resigned as the chief minister on November 9, 2010, following the expose of the Adarsh society scam.
In its voluminous charge-sheet filed against him and 12 others in the Adarsh scam case before the special court on July 4, 2012, the CBI had formally charged Chavan with having conspired with three prime scam accused, that he, in his capacity as the Revenue Minister in year 2000, had “proposed” to the society’s managing committee to induct civilians as members in the Adarsh building with the "ulterior motive" of facilitating flat allotments to his relatives.
The CBI had also charged that Chavan – during his tenure as the chief minister in July 2009 – gave the Adarsh society a concession of 15 per cent Recreation Ground (RG) which had not been allowed by the previous government. “In turn, Chavan got membership for his close relatives and thus abused his official position and favoured (Adarsh) society”, the charge-sheet had stated.
The CBI’s charge was that her he had allotted flats to his (now late) mother-in-law Bhagwati Manoharlal Sharma and two of his relatives Seema Vinod Sharma and Madanlal Milkiram Sharma in the 31-storey Adarsh building at Colaba in south Mumbai in lieu of the favours he had done to the controversial society.
Among other things, the charge-sheet clearly stated that “Shri Ashoj Chavan while functioning as the Revenue Minster of Government of Maharashtra during the year 2000 became a member of the criminal conspiracy with accused RC Thakur, Brig Madan Mohan Wachu and Khanhailala Gidwani in pursuance to the same, he proposed to included the civilians as members in the society with the ulterior motive to make his relatives as members in the society”.
On his part, Chavan subsequently challenged the CBI’s move to include his name as an accused in the charge sheet on the ground that no sanction for prosecution had been obtained from the Governor. The CBI maintained that since he was a former chief minister at the time of being charge-sheeted, gubernatorial approval was not required.
However, the court directed the CBI to get sanction for Chavan's prosecution from the Governor. After the CBI approached Governor K Sankaranarayanan for sanction for Chavan’s prosecution in the Adarsh scam case, the latter refused to grant sanction to the investigating agency.
Meanwhile, an application filed by former journalist-turned activist Ketan Tirodkar questioning the Governor’s order refusing sanction to prosecute former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh society scam, will come up for hearing before a HC bench of justices P V Hardas and Anuja Prabhudesai on Friday.
Citing a Supreme Court order, Tirodkar had said in his application early this year that the CBI did not require any sanction from the Governor to prosecute in cases which are monitored by the judiciary.
"The Supreme Court ruled that there is no requirement of sanction for the CBI under section 6-A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act to prosecute government servants in cases that are being monitored by the judiciary," Tirodkar had stated in his application.