Bombay High Court seeks action over Eknath Khadse case
It is alleged Khadse misused his official position to facilitate the purchase of MIDC land.
Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Tuesday gave a last chance to the state government to decide on whether it would investigate the complaint in the alleged Bhosari land scam in which BJP leader Eknath Khadse is allegedly involved. The HC said that if the state fails to reply by March 7, the court would pass an order in the matter.
The HC was hearing a petition filed by Pune businessman Hemant Gawande, who claimed that the state’s former revenue minister Khadse had misused his official position in 2016 to facilitate the purchase of three acres of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) land in Bhosari at a throwaway price of Rs 3.75 crore from its original owner in the name of his wife and son-in-law.
It was alleged that MIDC had acquired the plot in Bhosari in 1971. The petitioner also stated that he had filed a complaint in the local police station in May 2016 but the police had not investigated the matter.
A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Shalini Phansalkar–Joshi was informed by the petitioner’s lawyer that despite the repeated direction of the court, neither the state nor police had shown haste in registering a complaint against the Khadse family members, who were allegedly part of the land deal.
Special public prosecutor Nitin Pradhan told the court that the state had constituted a judicial commission under the chairmanship of retired high court Justice Dinakar Zoting in June 2016 and that commission is now seeking six week’s time to complete its probe. The state also informed the court that all the documents related to the case are with the commission and once the commission completes its probe, the police can then investigate the matter.
The bench asked the state, “why are you waiting for commission’s report… it is in your discretion to accept or reject it”.
The court then warned the state government to take a decision by March 7 on whether it is investigating into the complaint filed by the petitioner and said otherwise, “we will pass an order in this matter”.