HC dismisses Ashok Chavan's plea to drop his name from Adarsh case

Former chief minister faces prosecution under Prevention of Corruption Act

Maharashtra’s former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who was just two days ago appointed as the state Congress unit chief, on Wednesday received a major set back after the Bombay High Court dismissed his appeal to recall an earlier order refusing to delete his name from the Adarsh Housing Society scam case.

Justice M L Tahaliyani refused to grant any relief to Chavan who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nanded seat last year. With Wednesday’s order, Chavan will now face prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly misusing his official position to grant favours to the Adarsh society. Following the expose, Chavan had resigned as the chief minister in November 2010.

Wednesday’s order has come quite handy to Chavan’s opponents within the Congress and the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance to corner him, especially when the Budget session of the Maharashtra legislature will begin on March 9. Both BJP and Shiv Sena have welcomed the high court order.

ADARSH SCAM

• 31-storey Adarsh society stands on a prime piece of land in south Mumbai
• Top politicians and government officials accused of bypassing the rules
• In January 2011, the Maharashtra government set up judicial commission which observed the land belongs to the state government and not defence
• In April 2013, the Commission submitted its final report after examining 182 witnesses, including four former chief ministers - Ashok Chavan, Vilasrao Deshmukh (who has since died), Sushilkumar Shinde and Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar
• In December 2013, government tables report on the state legislature in which the Commission observed that the society enjoyed patronage of four former chief ministers and other politicians.

Already, the former chief minister and senior Congress leader Narayan Rane had openly expressed his displeasure over Chavan’s appointment. Rane also targeted the party high command alleging that views of state party leaders were not taken into account.

However, Congress put up a brave front and said notwithstanding Wednesday’s order Chavan will soon take over as the president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. The party spokesman Ratnakar Mahajan told Business Standard: “The fact that high court has dismissed Chavan’s petition does not mean it is an end to his quest for justice. He will fight on the facts and prove his innocence.”

Chavan had filed a petition in December last year after Justice Tahaliyani in his order delivered in November  had dismissed CBI’s application after observing that the state 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 had said in his order. Tahiliyani had given his order on the CBI’s revision application after the agency’s earlier plea on the same was rejected by a special CBI court in January last year.

Chavan had earlier 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. Chavan’s name prominently figures in the CBI’s charge sheet filed against 13 persons.