Quash FIR,ex-CM Chavan tells HC

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan,one of the main accused in the Adarsh Housing Society scam,on Monday filed an application in Bombay High Court seeking the quashing of the FIR filed against him by CBI on January 29,2011

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan,one of the main accused in the Adarsh Housing Society scam,on Monday filed an application in Bombay High Court seeking the quashing of the FIR filed against him by CBI on January 29,2011.

This is Chavans first application seeking relief in the case that led to his resignation as CM in November 2010. Chavan argued along the same lines as Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society and the state government that the CBI has no jurisdiction to investigate the case.

The investigation and the FIR being ex-facie without jurisdiction are illegal,arbitrary,unreasonable,unjustified,unconstitutional and an infringement on the life and liberty of the applicant without following the due procedure of law, Chavans application says.

The allegations made in the FIR are false,malafide and motivated and his (Chavans) inclusion in the FIR is part of a larger political controversy to keep (him) away from public affairs and politics, it says.

Refuting allegations that he had included civilians as members of the society,Chavan said Adarsh had,in 1999,itself decided to induct civilians.

Three of Chavans relatives were allegedly allotted apartments in the 31-storey residential tower in Colaba. He denied any wrongdoing. In the first list,there were no relatives of the applicant, the application said.

Also,the function of allotment of land and approval of membership was with the chief minister and not the revenue minister, Chavan argued. The CM then was Vilasrao Deshmukh,who passed away on August 14.

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There was no expedition in the process of allotment of land after the alleged induction of civilian members as alleged in the FIR in as much as the allotment of land took (place) on July 9,2004 nearly four-and-a-half years from the time the society applied to the chief minister on February 7,2000, Chavan has said.