HC gives govt 2 weeks to decide on sanction to prosecute Bhujbal,Gavit

While the applications against these two Nationalist Congress Party ministers were sent before 2011,an application for initiating inquiries against former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Congress,sent in 2012,is no more relevant with Deshmukh having passed away.

The HC directions came in response to a public interest litigation filed by activist Prakash Sheth through his lawyer Rahul Kadam. The petition contends that as per Supreme Court guidelines,government sanction in such cases has to be decided within four months of the application.

During the PIL hearing on Friday,additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai told the court that 196 open inquiry applications had been sent to the government from 2007 to 2011 of which 68 were decided.

A division bench of Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice A P Bhangale said that the court may take action against secretaries of the departments concerned if they do not take a decision within two weeks.

The state government told the court that in 2012,it received 44 applications for open inquiries,to decide which the court gave the government four weeks.

In his petition,Sheth also sought directions for speedy disposal of such applications and demanded action against any official found to have sat on them,causing a delay.

Some Notable Names

Among the government servants against whom ‘open inquiry’ has been sought are Nashik Municipal Commissioner Bhaskar Sanap,former Akola Municipal Commissioner,Laxmikant Deshmukh,MD of Haffkine Institute,Mumbai,Prakash Sabde and Assistant Commissioner (sales tax),Mumbai,Ashok Jaiswal.