In a major setback that former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan suffered just two days after his appointment as the Maharashtra Congress chief, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected his application seeking the recall of its earlier order disallowing the CBI from dropping his name from the chargesheet in the Adarsh housing society scam case.
“I do not find any merits in the application. The application stands dismissed,” Justice Ml Tahaliyani observed, as he rejected Chavan’s application seeking the recall of the November 19, 2014 of the high court which had rejected the CBI’s petition seeking the deletion of his name as an accused from the charge-sheet in the Adarsh society case.
Declining to entertain a request by Chavan’s senior counsel to refer to the judgement of the Supreme Court in the much-discussed case of A R Antulay VRS Nayak, Justice Tahaliyani noted: “Before parting with the order, it may be mentioned here that though the learned senior counsel has also relied upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of AR Antulay VRS Nayak, I do not find it necessary to refer the same for the purpose of deciding the present application. The reason for the same is that in the case of AR Antulay, the order in question was passed by the Supreme Court itself”.
Rejecting Chavan’s plea for staying the November 19, 2014 order, Justice Tahaliyani noted: “In the present case remedy is available to the applicant before the Supreme Court. This is not the Court of last resort for the applicant”.
Alluding to the apex court’s verdict in the State of Punjab Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar & others case, “where it is clearly stated that any mistake or glaring omission shall be left to be corrected only by the appropriate forum in accordance with law”, Justice Tahaliyani stated: “..Hence, I am of the view that even if some mistake or glaring omission has been committed by this Court, while passing the order dated 19th of November, 2014, the same is subject to the decision of the Supreme Court. I do not think that recall of order is remedy for the same”
Chavan had filed an application in the high court in December last year seeking to recall an order passed by Justice Tahaliyani on November 19 last year refusing to drop his name from the list of accused in the chargesheet filed in the Adarsh scam case.
With Justice Tahaliyani rejecting his application seeking recall of the high court’s earlier order, Chavan will now face prosecution for offences punishable under Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly misusing his official position to grant favours to the Adarsh society. However, in the meantime, Justice Tahaliyani has kept a window open for Chavan to move the apex court to seek remedy.
In his November 19 2014 order rejecting the CBI’s petition seeking to drop his name from the charge sheet in the Adarsh housing society scam case, Justice Tahaliyani had observed that the Governor had refused sanction for prosecution for conspiracy charge under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but he could still be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
“...Charges levelled against Chavan for the alleged individual acts cannot go away only because the Governor has refused to grant sanction for prosecuting him for conspiracy and cheating,” Justice Tahaliyani had said, referring to the chargesheet which refers to conspiracy and also Chavan’s individual acts when he was the Revenue Minister and later the Chief Minister.
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 chargesheet had stated.