On a day when dissenting Congress Minister Narayan Rane resigned from the Maharashtra Cabinet, the State government told the court that it had decided to revoke the order he wrongfully passed five years ago.
As the then Revenue Minister, Mr. Rane superseded the government’s policy to give construction permission to a highly expensive and top notch school in Nashik.
The school, which charges lakhs of rupees as fees, has built its campus within 1.5 km of Gangapur dam, thus endangering the lives of the students. The State government had directed the District Collector of Nashik to initiate criminal action against the school authorities for its unauthorised construction.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed before the Bombay High Court in 2009 challenging the permission given for the construction. On Monday, the court gave the State government two days to produce an order nullifying Mr. Rane’s decision. Within hours after the Minister resigned, the government told the court that it had already sent the file for the approval of the present Revenue Minister.
“I will produce the order of the government on Wednesday,” government pleader A.B. Vagyani told the court. The court thereafter adjourned the matter till Wednesday.
The Division Bench of Justices A.S. Oka and A.S. Chandurkar had earlier asked the government if it would like to set aside the unauthorised order, or whether the court should quash and set it aside.
On Monday, the government said it was willing to quash the order wrongfully passed by Mr. Rane.
