The Bombay high court on Tuesday reserved its order in the application filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking deletion of former chief minister Ashok Chavan's name from the Adarsh housing society scam even as the former minister alleged that he was singled out by the central agency.
Justice ML Tahilyani heard arguments of counsel Hiten Venegaonkar and Amit Desai for the CBI and Chavan respectively and reserved the order.
Desai argued that Chavan was singled out by the CBI as there are relatives of other politicians and bureaucrats like Nilengakar Patil, Jayant Patil and DS Shankaran who had been allotted flats too. "However, the CBI has not charged them with conspiracy or for any other offence," argued Desai.
Also, the CBI probe revealed that some were inducted as members by the housing society even before the concerned files came to the government for necessary clearances, added Desai. "As a revenue minister, I had to comply with regulations. The urban development department and all others had approved it, so who am I (Chavan) to say no?" argued Desai.
He further argued that even the governor had refused sanction to prosecute saying that no case of conspiracy can be made out against Chavan.
The CBI had filed the application in April under section 169 of the Criminal Procedure Code. It wanted Chavan's name dropped as an accused in the scam as the governor had refused to grant sanction to prosecute the former CM. The CBI had charged 13 people, including Chavan, in the case. Apart from this, CBI has also filed an additional chargesheet related to benami transactions.
Following CBI's application, HC had stayed trial against Chavan in August this year. The judge had, however, clarified that the trial court was free to go ahead with the trial against the other 12 accused.
Chavan and the others have been booked under IPC section 120 (b) for criminal conspiracy and various charges of corruption under Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
Hiten Venegaonkar said under IPC, governor's sanction was required to prosecute Chavan as he was a sitting MLA as well as the chief minister and revenue minister of the state when the alleged offence was committed.
As then CM, law stipulates that the state give prior sanction to prosecute him in a criminal case. Chavan had stepped down as the CM after his name had been linked to the controversy towards the end of 2010.
Charges against Chavan
CBI had accused Chavan of approving additional FSI (floor space index) to Adarsh Society in exchange of two flats for his relatives. He has also been charged with illegally approving, as revenue minister, allotment of 40% of the flats to civilians even though the society was meant for Kargil war widows and defence personnel.
Chavan had moved the high court questioning CBI's authority to probe the case. His petition is pending.
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