Supreme Court rebukes Vilasrao Deshmukh

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday pulled up former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for interfering in the enforcement of law to regulate private money lending in the state.

"The chief minister has no business to interfere with the functioning of the 1946 act regulating money lending in the state," the apex court bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly said in their judgement.

Dismissing the state's appeal, the court enforced a cost of Rs.10 lakh on the state government. The money will be deposited with the Maharashtra State Legal Service Authority to help poor litigants.

The former chief minister invited the apex court reprimand for preventing the administration and police from acting on the complaint of farmers against a relative of a Congress legislator Dilip Kumar Sananda, who was engaged in money lending activities.