Court rejects CBI's plea to drop Chavan's name from Adarsh scam

Governor K Sankaranarayanan had last month refused to sanction Chavan's prosecution on an application by CBI

In a setback to former chief minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chavan, a special court on Saturday rejected the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s plea to drop his name from the list of accused in the Adarsh Housing Society scam case. Chavan is one of the 13 accused against whom the CBI had filed chargesheet.

"The CBI's plea stands rejected," judge S G Dighe said. The judge said though Governor K Sankaranarayanan had rejected CBI's request for sanction to prosecute Chavan, he could be tried under the Prevention of Corruption Act, as he had been accused of criminal misconduct.

Special Public Prosecutor Bharat Badami said the CBI would be "very happy" to prosecute the former chief minister but "our hands are tied".  He said there was no provision under the law to appeal against the governor's denial of sanction but the agency can request him for a review of his decision if it has additional evidence against Chavan.

The CBI had moved the court, seeking removal of Chavan's name citing the governor's decision.

The court’s decision is a setback for the Congress also in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. Chavan,  the only former chief minister to have been made accused in the case though two of his predecessors --Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde-- were also under the scanner.

A judicial commission of inquiry set up by the state government had indicted all three for "blatant violations" of statutory provisions in granting various clearances to the scam-tainted Adarsh society. The judicial panel had said, "There was certainly a nexus between the acts of Chavan and benefits derived by his close relatives. The membership process clearly indicates that grant of requisite permission by Chavan was by way of quid pro quo."

Further, the judicial commission observed that Chavan gave clearances and permissions in the matter of Adarsh cooperative housing society is quid pro quo. Chavan's relatives Seema Sharma, Madanlal Sharma and late Bhagwati Sharma were granted membership in the society.

Chavan, 55, who had to step down as chief minister after the scam surfaced, had challenged his inclusion in the chargesheet on the ground that no sanction for prosecution had been obtained from the Governor. The CBI had maintained that since he was a former chief minister at the time of being charge-sheeted, gubernatorial approval was not required. The court had, however, directed the agency to get sanction for Chavan's prosecution, which was denied by the governor apparently leaving CBI with little choice but to close the case against him.