In a politically crucial development, the Devendra Fadnavis-led saffron alliance Government has ordered open inquiries by the State’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and two other senior NCP leaders Sunil Tatkare and Chhagan Bhujbal in two alleged corruption cases.
Though Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has cleared the ACB’s files seeking “open inquiries” against Ajit Pawar, Tatkare and Bhujbal some days ago, Maharashtra’s Advocate General Sunil Manohar on Friday made a formal submission to this effect before a Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court hearing a PIl seeking investigations into irrigation scam against two of the three NCP leaders, contractors and bureaucrats.
In a submission made before a division bench of Justices Bhushan Gavai and VM Deshpande, Advocate General Manohar stated: “I have been authorised by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to state that he has cleared open inquiries by ACB against Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare and Chhagan Bhujbal”.
Though the Advocate General did not clarify to the High Court, the open inquiries launched by the State Government pertain to two different scams.
While the Fadnavis Government has ordered “open inquiries” against Ajit and Tatkare in the alleged multi-thousand crore irrigation scam, the State Government has ordered a separate “open inquiry” against former
PWD Minister Bhujbal into allegations of corruption and favouritism in construction of Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi and two other Government buildings in Mumbai built under Private Public Partnership.
After the Advocate General made submission before the division bench, the judges disposed of a PIl filed by Janhit Manch, a Nagpur-based social organisation seeking investigations against the two NCP Ministers, contractors and bureaucrats allegedly involved in the multi-thousand crore irrigation scam.
Responding to a clarification sought by Janhit Manch’s lawyer Anil Killor, the State Advocate General told the high court that the “open inquiries” ordered against Ajit Pawar and Tatkare would also cover the contractors and bureaucrats allegedly involved in the scam.
In its PIl, Janhit Manch had alleged that owing to rampant corruption, the cost of the 38 irrigation projects in the Vidarbha region had increased from Rs 6,672.27 crore to Rs 20,050 crore and finally to Rs 26,722 crore. Cost of some of the projects increased almost 33 times.
While disposing of the PIl, the judges observed: “When big-wigs are being probed along with officials and contractors, there is no point in keeping these petitions pending”. The Judges made it clear to the petitioner that he could always approach the approach if he was not satisfied with the inquiry.
Interestingly enough, the Fadnavis Government’s submission about having ordered “open inquiries” against alleged corruption cases involving Ajit Pawar, Tatkare and Bhujbal leaders comes a week after the ruling BJP sewed up an alliance with the Shiv Sena after rejecting “unsolicited outside” support from the NCP-- to which the three tainted leaders belong to.
Given that Fadnavis, while he was in the Opposition earlier, was in the forefront of “exposing” the multi-thousand irrigation scam and that another senior BJP leader Kirit Somaiya had done his bit in bringing to light the alleged new Maharashtra Sadan and two PWD related scams, the launch of “open inquires” against the three NCP leaders was very much on cards.
The ACB files seeking inquiries against the three NCP leaders had reached the Chief Minister’s Office when Fadnavis took over the reins of the State in early November.
The launch of “open inquiries” against three of its senior most leaders in alleged corruption cases comes as a major setback for the Sharad Pawar-headed NCP, which had unsuccessfully tried to get closer to the ruling BJP by extending its “outside” support to the then minority Government of Devendra Fadnavis. However, with the Shiv Sena joining the Fadnavis Government, the NCP’s power-play had come to a naught.
The multi-thousand irrigation scam, it may be recalled, had come to light in September 2012. Ajitdada had resigned from the Deputy Chief Minister’s post on September 25, 2012, attributing his decision to the media reports on the alleged irregularities in the awarding of 38 irrigation contracts worth Rs 20,000 crore in Vidarbha region during 2009, without seeking the mandatory clearance from the governing council of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC).
Ajit Pawar is known in the State political circles, was the State Irrigation Minister between 1999 and 2010, before he was elevated as the Deputy Chief Minister and handed the portfolios of Finance and Energy. The irrigation scam had allegedly taken place during his tenure as the State irrigation scam.
After Ajit took over as the Deputy Chief Minister, Tatkare assumed charge as the Irrigation (Water Resources) Minister.
However, after the State Government subsequently came out with a White Paper on the irrigation projects in the State, Ajit was re-inducted as the Deputy Chief Minister in December 2012.
Soon after Ajitdada’s return to the State Cabinet, the DF Government appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by irrigation expert Madhav Chitale, to look into the various aspects of the irrigation scam.
However, in June this year, the previous DF Government -while tabling the Madhav Chitale committee report on the massive irrigation scam along with the Action Taken Report (ATR) - had given a “clean chit” to Ajit Pawar. The then BJP-led Opposition had charged that the State Government had “misinterpreted” the report to bail out Ajit.