Setback for Ashok Chavan, Bombay HC rejects plea to remove his name from Adarsh scam
Mumbai, March 4: In fresh trouble for newly appointed chief of Maharashtra Congress Ashok Chavan, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected his plea to drop his name from the charge sheet in the Adarsh scam case.
Justice M L Tahaliyani refused to grant any relief to the senior Congress leader.
The court on Tuesday reserved its order till March 4 on an application filed by Chavan seeking recall of an earlier ruling refusing CBI the permission to drop his name from the Adarsh Housing Society scam case.
Justice M L Tahaliyani had said he would pass the order on Wednesday. Chavan had approached the HC in December 2014, a month after Justice Tahaliyani refused CBI the permission to delete his name from the charge sheet.
He pleaded that certain observations in the order were on the points which had not been argued and he had not got the opportunity to address these.
CBI had first approached the trial court seeking to drop Chavan's name as an accused on the ground that the Governor had refused to sanction his prosecution.
As the CBI court rejected it, the agency moved the HC. However, Justice Tahaliyani dismissed CBI's application last November after observing that the Governor had refused sanction for prosecution for conspiracy charge under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but he can still be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The charge sheet not only alleges conspiracy but also refers to Chavan's individual acts when he was the Revenue Minister and later the Chief Minister, the judge said.
"...Charges
levelled
against
Chavan
for
the
alleged
individual
acts
cannot
go
away
only
because
the
Governor
has
refused
to
grant
sanction
for
prosecuting
him
for
conspiracy
and
cheating,"
Justice
Tahaliyani
had
said.
According
to
CBI,
Chavan
suggested
inclusion
of
civilian
members
in
the
Adarsh
society
--
meant
only
for
defence
personnel
--
to
get
flats
for
his
own
relatives.
OneIndia
News
(With
agency
inputs)