Mumbai/Nagpur: In a relief for the Congress party, the Bombay High Court set aside sanction granted by Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to prosecute Congress leader and former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan in Adarsh housing scam.
The High Court said that the CBI failed to present any fresh evidence against Chavan while seeking sanction to prosecute him in Adarsh scam.
A division bench headed by Justice R V More had been hearing a petition filed by Chavan challenging Governor C Vidyasagar Rao’s decision granting sanction to CBI to prosecute him in the case.
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Wed 11 Dec. 2024
In February last year, Rao had allowed the CBI to prosecute Chavan for offences under IPC sections 120 (b)(criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) and various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Chavan had been accused of approving additional floor space index for Adarsh society in return for two flats for his relatives. He was also charged with illegally approving, as the then Revenue Minister, allotment of 40 per cent of the flats in the housing society, meant for serving and former servicemen and war widows, to civilians.
While the CBI named him as an accused in the FIR, in December 2013, the then Governor K Sankaranarayanan had refused permission to prosecute Chavan in the scam.
However, in March 2015, the high court dismissed a plea made by Chavan, who is the MP from Nanded, seeking deletion of his name from the case, as the governor had refused to grant sanction.
Following this, the CBI approached the governor again with a fresh proposal for sanction, which was granted in February 2016.
