Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking registration of a case or a CBI probe against NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Baramati MP Supriya Sule, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and others over allegedly illegal permissions granted for the Lavasa hill station project in Pune.
A division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A. Ankhad was hearing the plea filed by advocate Nanasaheb Jadhav, who had alleged irregularities and sought criminal action in connection with the private hill city project. The court had reserved its verdict on December 16 after observing that the petitioner was required to place sufficient material on record to substantiate his claims.
The bench also took note of the fact that Jadhav had earlier filed a similar PIL, which was dismissed in February 2022 on the ground of “gross delay”, as it was moved nearly a decade after the Lavasa project began.
In his fresh criminal PIL filed in 2023, Jadhav said he had lodged a complaint in December 2018 with the Pune Police Commissioner, who forwarded it to the Pune Rural Police. He alleged that an RTI query in May 2022 revealed that no FIR had been registered on his complaint.
He then approached the Pune Rural Superintendent of Police under Section 154 of the CrPC, but claimed there was still no action, alleging that the police were reluctant to proceed because “big politicians and officers” were involved. On this basis, he urged the court to order a CBI investigation, arguing that there is no limitation period for registering complaints in cases where the maximum punishment is seven years or more.
An earlier bench had told Jadhav in September 2023 that if the police did not register an FIR, he had the option of filing a private complaint before a magistrate, noting that while political pressure might influence the police, a magistrate would not be so constrained.
Senior advocate Aspi Chinoy, along with advocate Joel Carlos appearing for Sharad Pawar, argued that the allegations in the latest PIL were identical to those raised in Jadhav’s earlier petition, and therefore the fresh plea was liable to be rejected.
In its 2022 order on the previous PIL, a bench led by then Chief Justice Dipankar Datta had refused to interfere with the permissions granted to the Lavasa project, citing gross delay, though it had recorded observations about “personal interest” and “exertion of influence and clout” by Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule in relation to the project. The court had also noted that Ajit Pawar, then state irrigation minister, failed to disclose his direct or indirect interest and was “remiss in his duty” to that extent.
With the latest petition reiterating the same allegations that had already been examined and rejected, the present bench dismissed the PIL, effectively closing this round of litigation over the Lavasa permissions.