SC slams Vilasrao Deshmukh for sacking Uran civic body chief

Former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and the state government have been severely indicted by the Supreme Court for acting in a “casual and cavalier” manner by sacking the elected president of a municipal council. Scrapping the order passed by then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh in 2008, removing Ravi Yashwant Bhoir as president of the Uran Municipal Council on a complaint  filed by his political rival, the court said it was a “crystal clear case’’ of “legal malice”.

In the CM’s opinion, Bhoir’s decision not to call a general body meeting of the Council to consider a harmless matter was a “grave misconduct’’. Under the law, the CM acts as a quasi judicial authority in cases relating to misconduct by members of civic bodies and their presiding officers.

Instead of resorting to the parliamentary system to bring a no confidence motion confidence against him, the state government sacked him and disqualified him from being a member for 6 years.

The bench of BS Chouhan and JS Khehar expressed shock at the state’s attitude in denying it all the relevant documents relating to Bhoir’s sacking.