High Court sends notice to govt on Ashok Chavan's Adarsh plea

The Bombay high court on Thursday issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for quashing of the cheating and corruption case registered against former chief minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh scam.

A division bench of justice PV Hardas and justice AR Joshi directed the government and the CBI to file their replies to the petition filed by Chavan by April 1.

In his petition, he has said that the CBI does not have the jurisdiction to probe the case as the state has not given its consent. Claiming that he had been wrongly named in the FIR, Chavan sought for quashing it and said there was a political conspiracy to keep him out of public affairs.

According to the CBI, Chavan had misused his official position twice — first as the revenue minister and then as the chief minister — to show undue favour to the society. They charge-sheeted Chavan and 12 others in the Adarsh scam, with the Congress leader being accused of granting some approvals to the upscale housing society in south Mumbai as a quid pro quo for allotment of three flats for his kin.

His mother-in-law, Bhagvati Sharma, sister-in-law, Seema Sharma and father-in-law’s brother Madanlal Sharma, have flats in the society.

@DNA