Bombay HC rejects Ashok Chavan's plea to remove his name from Adarsh scam chargesheet

In fresh trouble for former Maharashtra Chief Minister and newly appointed chief of Maharashtra Congress Ashok Chavan, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday rejected his plea to drop his name from the charge sheet in the Adarsh scam case. [caption id=“attachment_2135139” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Maharashtra CM and newly appointed Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan. PTI[/caption] The order refusing to recall his earlier ruling implies that Chavan will now face prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly misusing his official position to grant favours to the Adarsh society. Chavan had approached the high court in December 2014, a month after Justice ML Tahaliyani refused CBI the permission to delete his name from the charge sheet. He had pleaded that certain observations in the order were on points which had not been argued, and that he had not got the opportunity to address these. CBI had first approached the trial court seeking to drop Chavan’s name as an accused on the ground that the Governor had refused to sanction his prosecution. As the CBI court rejected it, the agency moved the High Court. The charge sheet not only alleges conspiracy but also refers to Chavan’s individual acts when he was the Revenue Minister and later the Chief Minister, the judge said. Chavan had to resign as chief minister when the scam came to light in 2010. He has been charged with approving additional floor space index for the society in return for two flats for his relatives and illegally approving allotment of 40 percent of the flats to civilians though the society was meant for Kargil war widows and defence personnel. Chavan was appointed the Maharashtra Congress chief on 2 March, after which he said Congress would continue to stand with the people of the state. “Even today we stand firmly for the people of the state. We will continue to take up people’s issues with the government in future as well,” Chavan had told reporters at his first press briefing after the appointment. (With inputs from PTI)