HC notice to Maha govt, Ajit Pawar, Raj Thackeray on petition

The Bombay High Court today issued notices to Maharashtra government and MNS chief Raj Thackeray on a petition asking to register a case against Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar for allegedly instigating their party workers to engage in rioting.

The petition filed by activist Hemant Patil has also sought direction to the government to recover cost for damage to public property last month.

A division bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and A P Bhangale today issued notices to all the respondents in the petition and posted the matter for hearing on April 25.

Patil has sought direction to the government and state's police chief to register cases against Pawar and Thackeray, whose public criticism of each other had triggered violence.

The two leaders had recently taken potshots at each other from public platforms which had outraged their party workers, who engaged in rioting in several parts of the state.

"In various districts across the state, party workers of MNS and NCP have been indulging in violent activities and disturbing peace and harmony of the society. The MNS chief has used vulgar and abusive words against various other political leaders like Sushil Kumar Shinde and Sharad Pawar," the petition said.

Ajit Pawar, nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, had recently attacked Thackeray for mimicking political leaders during a visit to Kolhapur, saying it would only "entertain" people and not solve state's problems like drought.

Thackeray retaliated by accusing Pawar, who headed the water resources ministry between 1999 and 2009, of being responsible for water scarcity despite huge spendings on irrigation projects.

There have been allegations of a Rs 70,000 crore scam in the irrigation department, which has been with NCP since inception of Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra in 1999.

Furious over Thackeray's accusation against their leader, NCP workers had hurled stones at MNS leader's convoy at Bhingar in Ahmednagar district on February 26, triggering a spate of incidents of violence and arson in Mumbai, Pune and Thane.