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)