Supreme Court was ‘shocked’ at the former chief minister’s
action, slapped Rs10 lakh fine on the state government.
The Supreme Court has found former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh guilty of showing extraordinary favours to the family members of a legislator involved in money-lending business in the Vidarbha region, where a large number of farmers had committed suicide after failing to repay debts. It has also slapped a fine of Rs10 lakh on the state government.
Deshmukh certainly acted beyond all legal norms by directing the district collector to protect members of a particular family from the normal process of law, the court observed, while dismissing the appeal by the Maharashtra government against a Bombay high court order directing action against legislator Dilipkumar Sananada in 2006.
“This amounts to bestowing special favours to a chosen few at the cost of the vast number of poor people who, as farmers, have taken loans and who have come to the authorities of law and order to register their complaints against torture and atrocities by the money lenders,” a bench of justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly said on Tuesday.
Deshmukh’s action is “completely contrary to and inconsistent with the constitution’s promise of equality and also the resolve of social and economic justice,” said an anguished bench.
It said Deshmukh had issued certain directions to the collector and the police to shut their eye to the complaints against legislator Sananda’s father Gokulchand Sananda, the private money-lender. The directions were “wholly unconstitutional and seek to subvert the constitutional norms of equality and social justice”.
Sarnagdharsingh Chavan and his brother Vjaysingh Chavan had filed complaints, stating they had taken a loan from Sananda but were unable to pay it back as the interest charged was exorbitant.
In a writ petition before the Bombay HC, the brothers also said they had taken the loan after pledging their farm land to Sananda. The land was confiscated by the money-lender after they failed to repay.
The high court had indicted the state government, while adjudicating the lawsuit filed by the Chavan brothers. They had alleged that legislator Sananada had met Deshmukh on June 1, 2006, seeking protection for his father against criminal prosecution.
Chavan had told the high court that on Sananda’s plea, Deshmukh summoned the Buldhana district collector and asked him not to take any action against Sananda and other money-lenders in the district without consulting the higher authorities.
The court has directed that the money be deposited with the HC’s legal aid services authority within six weeks. It will set up a fund to help the cases of poor farmers
Deshmukh has refused to comment. He said he would first go through the judgment before making any comment.
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