Adarsh scam: Ex-Maha CM Nilangekar withdraws petition in HC

Mumbai, Dec 12: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar today withdrew his petition in the Bombay High Court seeking permission to intervene in the hearing of a petition before the special CBI court accusing him of involvement in Adarsh Housing Society scam.

Justice M L Tahiliyani allowed Nilangekar to withdraw the petition, with the liberty to approach the High Court again at an appropriate stage.

Nilangekar's lawyer Ashok Mundargi earlier requested the High Court to hear the petitioner and stay the proceedings in the Adarsh case before the CBI court. The judge, however, noted that the CBI court had not yet decided the application filed by activist Praveen Wategaonkar, who has sought to make Nilangekar an accused in the case.

Therefore, he should wait till the trial court passed the order and move the High Court later if aggrieved. The judge also said he would dismiss the petition otherwise after which Nilangekar's lawyer chose to withdraw it.

The CBI court had on September 17 rejected Nilangekar's plea seeking to intervene in the hearing of Wategaonkar's petition. Wategaonkar has alleged that Nilangekar, during his tenure as the Revenue Minister, granted certain illegal approvals to the Society.

CBI's charge sheet of July 2012 names former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and 12 others but the court is yet to take cognisance of it. Adarsh Society, a high-rise building in south Mumbai, allegedly obtained several illegal concessions in return for allotment of flats to politicians and bureaucrats.

PTI