Bombay HC bench not to hear Adarsh scam PILs

Another court to look into allegations

A Bombay HighCourt’s division bench which had been hearing Adarsh housing scam related cases on Tuesday, made it clear that henceforth, it will not hear public interest litigation (PIL) applications including the plea moved by former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan, seeking the quashing of corruption cases against him.

Justices S A Bobde and R G Ketkar who had been hearing Adarsh scam related cases in the past recused itself when Chavan’s application cropped up during the hearing, stating “Not before us”.

The court for the past several months has been hearing a cluster of PILs related to Adarsh scam including the one seeking judicial monitoring of CBI probe into the matter.
Following Tuesday’s recusing in the matter, the entire Adarsh issue will now shift to another bench; the decision will be taken by the chief justice of the court.

Chavan’s plea

On Monday, Chavan moved an application praying that CBI's FIR naming him should be quashed on grounds that the premier investigating agency was transgressing its jurisdiction by probing the matter.

Chavan in his application also claimed that he was being framed by his political adversaries and “naming him in the FIR was a conspiracy to keep him away from public affairs”.
Earlier, state government had also moved an application challenging the central agency’s role in the matter stating that “neither the government nor high court had sought investigating agency’s assistance on the issue”.