Making no bones about its displeasure over the report submitted by the CBI in connection with its probe into benami flats in the scam-tainted Adarsh building, the Bombay High Court said on Wednesday that the report was “silent” on the specific queries it had raised by it at the previous hearing.
A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and AA Sayed also turned down a request by the CBI to hear the matter in the judges’ chamber instead of the open court.
The HC bench said that in view of the sensitivity of the matter, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) should satisfy the judges in an open court regarding the specific queries raised by them at the previous hearing.
The high court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by activist Pravin Wategaonkar seeking disclosure of the names of two top officials of the Maharashtra government who allegedly obtained benami flats in lieu of clearing files relating to the tainted Adarsh building.
“We are not satisfied with this report. It is silent on very specific queries raised by us and the petition on the last hearing,” Justice Oka said.
The HC bench, which had at the previous hearing held on September 1 summoned joint director of CBI (western zone) Amrit Prasad, to remain present in court on Wednesday, disapproved the absence of the senior CBI officer concerned.