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This is an archive article published on January 16, 1999

Vyas case hearing next week

MUMBAI, JAN 15: The fate on the public interest petitions alleging illegal dereservation of a plot in Pune in favour of Chief Minister Ma...

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MUMBAI, JAN 15: The fate on the public interest petitions alleging illegal dereservation of a plot in Pune in favour of Chief Minister Manohar Joshi’s son-in-law Girish Vyas will be taken on January 19.

The division bench of Justice B N Srikrishna and S S Parkar today adjourned the matter and directed all counsels to remain present on that day. Once the counsels arrive at a common date for the final hearing, no adjournments will be granted until the matter is disposed off, said Justice Srikrishna.

After two division benches of the Bombay High Court refused to hear the petitions for different reasons yesterday, acting Chief Justice Ashok Agarwal assigned the task of hearing the petitions to the division bench of Justice B N Srikrishna and S S Parkar.

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However, since the petitions were not formally listed in the court of Justice Srikrishna, senior counsel Vinod Bobde, representing petitioner Vijay Kumbhar, filed a precipe and explained the urgency of the matter to the judges. He said the petitions were ofpublic importance and therefore needed expeditious hearing.

Meanwhile, additional government pleader Ramesh D Rane informed the court that the Advocate General C J Sawant was not keeping well and was about to be hospitalised for the treatment of food poisoning. To this Justice Srikrishna queried in lighter vein, “Is it because of the hearing of the petitions?”

Justice Srikrishna then told the counsels that he will give directions for the final hearing of the petitions on Tuesday, by which time the AG will hopefully resume office. The judge also state that final hearing of this case, which will necessarily take time, will necessitate readjustment of other hearing dates on the board. There are about 350 admission matters already listed on his board in the coming days.

Counsel Bobde, who is based in New Delhi, repeatedly requested the judge to fix a tentative hearing date today. However, the judge said the counsels will have to wait till Tuesday. To this counsel D Y Chandrachud, representing PuneMunicipal Corporation, said “it would be better if learned friend Bobde stays in Mumbai than Delhi for some time, the former being a sunnier city these days.”

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The public interest petitions, which have been adjourned for six times now, are filed by Vijay Kumbhar and Nitin Jagtap. They allege that the Pune Municipal Corporation and State Urban Development ministry illegally dereserved a plot on Prabhat Road (Pune) to accommodate a multi-storeyed “Sun Dew” housing complex of private builder and Chief Minister Manohar Joshi’s son-in-law Girish Vyas.

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