In a big relief to former chief minister and Congress state party leader, Ashok Chavan, the Bombay High Court on Friday, set aside the sanction given in 2016, by the Maharashtra Governor, to prosecute him in the Adarsh Housing Society scam case.
A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Sadhana Jadhav, while allowing the petition filed by Chavan which claimed review of the sanction by the present Governor C H Vidyasagar Rao was not permissible, said “Neither the extract of the J A Patil commission report, nor order dated November 19, 2014 passed by the Single Judge of this court are admissible in evidence or capable of being converted into evidence and therefore the same cannot be considered. In the absence of fresh material, the Governor has no jurisdiction to review the order of the erstwhile Governor.”
The CBI has accused Chavan of approving additional FSI for Adarsh Housing Society in return for two flats. He was also charged with illegally approving, as the then Revenue Minister, allotment of 40 per cent of the flats to civilians.
Chavan had, through his counsel Amit Desai, argued in court that sanction accorded to prosecute was a political vendetta and with a view to destabilise his political career. However, the Maharashtra government had said while opposing the petition that the sanction to prosecute him granted by Ch Vidyasagar Rao was not malafide. The point raised can be dealt with at the time of the trial before the appropriate court.
Chavan has challenged the sanction to prosecute him for offenses under IPC sections 120 (b)(criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) and under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh had opposed the plea saying that at the time of seeking sanction for the first time in 2013, the Adarsh Commission report was available with the government but was not tabled and accepted by it, so it could not be construed as a public document.
However, the second time it acted as fresh material before the authority to consider. Though, the authority (Governor) cannot be influenced by court judgements or commission reports while deciding on the sanction, it can surely consider fresh material related to the same case, which becomes available at a later stage.
SCAM AT A GLANCE
ADARSH HOUSING SOCIETY
The housing complex, located in south Mumbai’s Colaba, was intended for the heroes and widows of the 1999 Kargil war. On plan, the building was supposed to be six-storeys tall; by the time it was completed, it stood 31-storeys high.
THE SCAM
In 2007, media revealed that politicians, bureaucrats and military officials had colluded to get 25 illegal allotments, and 22 purchases, by proxy.
ALLEGED POWERBROKERS
Congress chief minister Ashok Chavan, former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak and ex-army chief Deepak Kapoor were some of the people said to be involved.
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