HC scraps Guv nod to prosecute ex-cm
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Friday quashed the sanction accorded by Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to the CBI to prosecute Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh housing scam, in a relief to the Congress leader who had to quit as chief minister after he was implicated in the corruption case. Chavan, currently the president of the Maharashtra unit of the Congress, had served as chief minister between December 2008 and November 2010 before he was asked to step down over corruption charges in the Adarsh scam. The scam kicked up a huge political storm and was highlighted by the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign.
A bench of Justices Ranjit More and Sadhana Jadhav held that the sanction granted by the governor could not be “sustained” since it was not based on any fresh material produced by the CBI that could be considered as plausible “evidence” by courts during trial. “It was permissible for the Hon’ble Governor (Rao), the sanctioning authority in the present case, to review or reconsider the earlier decision of the erstwhile governor’s (his predecessor Governor K San- karanarayanan) decision not to grant sanction, since the CBI claimed that some fresh material had surfaced after the earlier sanction was refused,” the bench said. “However, the agency (CBI) failed to present any fresh material capable of being converted into evidence that can be substantiated at the time of trial.
Chavan is among 14 retired and serving defence personnel, bureaucrats and politicians named as accused in the scam.
The CBI has accused Chavan of approving additional floor space index (FSI) for the Adarsh society in posh South Mumbai, and accepting two flats for his relatives in return when he was the chief minister.
He is also accused of illegally approving, as revenue minister earlier, allotment of 40% of flats to civilians even though the society was meant for defence personnel.