What led Guv to allow Chavan’s prosecution, asks High Court

Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the Maharashtra government to spell out the “change in circumstances” for which the Governor sanctioned prosecution of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh Society case.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Ranjit More and Justice Anuja Prabhudesai was hearing a petition filed by Chavan. The former CM has challenged the decision of the present Governor Vidyasagar Rao to prosecute him in the alleged scam.

Rao had in February 2016 sanctioned Chavan’s prosecution under charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy along with relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to Chavan, this sanctioning is contradictory to the stand of former Governor K Sankaranarayanan, who had refused to grant permission for his prosecution in the alleged scam.

Senior counsel Amit Desai, appearing for Chavan, said, “The very first ground is the adverse observation made by Bombay HC against my client in another application pertaining to this case. We have challenged that observation in Supreme Court and that is still pending. The second ground is the report submitted by the commission that was inquiring into this case.”

“Both these grounds are inadmissible as evidence. Also, the fact that the former Governor had refused to grant any permission for prosecuting my client is evident enough,” Desai argued.

After hearing the submissions advanced, Justice More said, “We want to know why was permission denied on the very first instance and also what led to again grant permission. We want to know how the circumstances have changed now.”

The Bench has posted the matter for further hearing on April 7.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Ranjit More and Justice Anuja Prabhudesai was hearing a petition filed by Chavan