Adarsh scam: CBI segregates PILs on the basis of issues after HC directive

Mumbai: Following a directive of Bombay High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation today submitted a chart segregating the public interest litigations on Adarsh Housing Society scam on the basis of issues.

The High Court is hearing several PILs on Adarsh scam. The judges had, on the last occasion, sought segregation of petitions, saying that every issue needed a separate hearing.

The chart was submitted to the division bench headed by Justice PV Hardas which adjourned the hearing by a month.

Meanwhile, an appeal filed by the CBI against the special court’s order rejecting its plea to drop former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chavan from the list of accused would come up for hearing in the High Court on 16 September.

Justice Sadhana Jadhav has already stayed the lower court’s order.

Among the petitions on Adarsh scam, the one filed by former journalist Ketan Tirodkar seeks to prosecute Ashok Chavan, accused of granting certain illegal concessions to the society in return for flats for his relatives. Maharashtra governor earlier this year denied CBI the sanction to prosecute him.

The PIL filed by activist Praveen Wategaonkar contends that authorities should invoke Prevention of Money Laundering Act as several flats in the society were purchased in the name of proxy buyers.

Wategaonkar, in another application, has sought that former Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde be made an accused for his alleged role in giving some questionable approvals to the controversial society.

PTI