The Congress and the Maharashtra Government on Saturday suffered a major setback as a special court on Saturday rejected the CBI’s plea to drop former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s name from the list of accused in the Adarsh housing society scam case.
The judge said even though Governor K Sankaranarayanan had rejected CBI’s plea for sanction to prosecute Chavan, he could be tried under the Prevention of Corruption act as he has been accused of criminal misconduct. Special Court Judge SG Dighe stated: “The CBI’s plea stands rejected”. In his brief order, the judge did not cite any reason for the rejection. A detailed order, citing the reasons for rejection of the CBI’s plea, is expected early next week.
In an application filed before the special court on January 15, Special Public Prosecutor Bharat Badami urged the court to allow the CBI to drop Chavan’s name from the list of accused on the basis of Governor’s decision that refused to sanction prosecution of Chavan. Citing reasons for the central investigating agency’s decision to move the special court for dropping Chavan’s name as one of the 13 accused in the Adarsh scam charge-sheet, the CBI spokesperson had said on Wednesday: “The Governor had earlier refused sanction for Chavan’s prosecution on the
basis of evidence available with us. From the legal opinion we obtained subsequently, we found that we cannot appeal against the Governor’s refusal, unless we have fresh evidence against him (Chavan). At the moment, we have no fresh evidence. That’s why we have moved the court for dropping his name from the list of accused in the case”.
However, with the special court rejecting the CBI’s plea for dropping Chavan’s name from the list of accused, the investigating agency does not seem to have been left with any other option, but to prosecute Chavan in the case.
The rejection comes on the heels of a two-member Commission of Inquiry - comprising retired judge of Bombay High Court JA Patil and retired chief secretary of Maharashtra P Subramanyam -indicting him (Chavan) for giving permissions and clearances to the controversial Adarsh co-operative Housing society as quid pro quo.
In its report, the Commission has observed that while Ashok Chavan cannot be said to have favoured or obliged the Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society by allowing civilians to become members, his approval of non-deduction of 15 per cent recreational ground while calculating FSI cannot be treated as an innocent act.
“We are not concerned with the legality or otherwise of the said decision. It may be legal and justifiable...However, this decision when followed by the grant of membership and allotment of flats to his close relatives becomes indicative of quid pro quo,” the Commission stated in its report.