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  Metros   Mumbai  05 Sep 2017  HC demands update of Khadse probe from state

HC demands update of Khadse probe from state

THE ASIAN AGE.
Published : Sep 5, 2017, 1:23 am IST
Updated : Sep 5, 2017, 1:23 am IST

“If the state would have taken requisite steps against the complaint this court would not have continued with the PIL,” the court

BJP leader Eknath Khadse. (Photo: File)
 BJP leader Eknath Khadse. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked the state government to show what steps it has taken against former revenue minister Eknath Khadse, against whom allegations of corruption and misuse of public office have been levelled.

The HC has asked the state to reply within three week. The high court rapped the Maharashtra government saying, “This court can’t close its eyes in the matter where serious allegations are made against persons holding public office”.

“If the state would have taken requisite steps against the complaint this court would not have continued with the PIL,” the court

said, adding, “If the state has failed to take appropriate steps based on the complaints made by the petitioners, this court cannot remain a silent spectator”.

A division bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice M.S. Karnik was hearing a petition filed by activist Anjali Damania and others.

The petition alleged that Khadse had misused his office and earned crores of rupees. He and his family has disproportionate wealth running into several crores of rupees, Ms Damania claimed in her petition. She also sought Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe against Khadse.

Khadse's counsel Darius Khambata made an application before the HC seeking dismissal of the PIL. He argued that the petitioners had not approached the HC in a fair manner and that the charges were 'politically motivated'. Mr Khambata alleged that the petitioners had filed the PIL only for publicity. "One of the petitioner is attached to the Shiv Sena while some were former members of the Aam Admi Party," Mr Khambata said. He argued that the petitioners had failed to disclose their political associations to the HC while filling the PIL. Mr Khambata said that the petitioners should have filed an FIR in a police station or a private complaint with a magistrate.

However, the petitioners' counsel Mihir Desai argued that Ms Damania and others had resigned from the their respective political parties before the last election.

Mr Desai told the court that the petitioners had exhausted all the remedies before filling the PIL. They had approached anti-corruption bureau, enforcement directorate and the income tax commissioner but they did not pay heed to them.

The bench noted that since the state had acknowledge receiving the above complaints on November 2016, the HC wanted to know what the state had done so far in response to the complaints.

Tags: bombay high court, eknath khadse