Bombay HC rejects CBI plea to drop former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan's name in Adarsh scam

MUMBAI: In a setback for Maharashtra's former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, the Bombay High Court today turned down a CBI plea to drop his name as an accused in the Adarsh scam, paving the way for his trial.

The court, however, stayed the execution of its order for four weeks to enable the investigating agency to file an appeal.

"I am inclined to reject the petition and dismiss it," Justice M L Tahilyani said in an one-line order the details of which would be pronounced later.

The judgement was delivered through video conference as Justice Tahilyani is currently presiding over a bench in Nagpur.

After the court delivered the order, CBI counsel Hiten Venegaonkar prayed for a stay so that the agency could appeal against it, which was granted.

"The plea for a stay on the order is being granted as CBI wants to file an appeal," the judge said.

The court also rejected an intervention application filed by social activist Ketan Tirodkar opposing CBI's plea for dropping Chavan's name, accepting the investigating agency's contention that he had no locus standi in the case.

Justice Tahilyani, however, said he would go through the Supreme Court judgement cited by Tirodkar that gubernatorial sanction was not required when charge sheet had already been filed against an accused.

CBI had initially moved the trial court seeking deletion of Chavan's name from the list of accused mentioned in the FIR. After it was rejected, the investigating agency filed a revision application in the High Court which was also dismissed.