The State government will fulfill all its responsibility, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said reacting to the Bombay High Court’s order indicting senior Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh for “misusing his official position” as former Chief Minister and while allotting land to film maker Subhash Ghai for his film institute, Whistling Woods International.
However, Mr. Chavan chose not to comment on Mr. Deshmukh’s role. Addressing mediapersons before his road show in the city on Friday, ahead of the upcoming corporation elections, Mr. Chavan said, “I cannot comment on Vilasrao’s role without reading the court order. But our commitment for a clean government still stands.”
Mr. Chavan said that the “relevant people” had met him, and there had been efforts to “crave a practical way out of the problem.”
On Thursday, the Bombay High Court held that the joint venture agreement signed between Mr. Ghai's Mukta Arts and the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation (MFSCDC) in 2004 for the director's film school Whistling Woods International was “illegal, arbitrary and without authority of law”. The court also stated that Mr. Deshmukh had extended “undue favours” to Mr. Ghai.
“The decision was taken by the then administration to encourage education in the filed of entertainment. Bollywood is the capital of entertainment in the country,” Mr. Chavan stated.
However, Mr. Chavan chose to take credit for the court decision, by emphasising on the governance of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). “It is because of the Right to Information (RTI) act, implemented by the UPA, that such things are coming into public light,” he said.
