A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court, consisting of Justices S.A. Bobde and R.G. Ketkar, on Tuesday recused itself from hearing public interest litigation petitions in the Adarsh Housing Society case.
As soon as senior counsel Amit Desai started his pleadings on the intervention petition, filed by the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Monday seeking quashing of the case against him, Justice Bobde said: “Not before us.”
Reason unclear
The Bench had been hearing for the past months petitions filed by social activists and others for monitoring the Adarsh scam probe and prosecution of the accused for money laundering and other charges. It is not clear why it has withdrawn itself from hearing the matter.
Lawyers said it would take a few days for the case to be reallocated to another Bench.
The Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation have been investigating charges against serving and retired bureaucrats, politicians and military officers that they bent rules to allocate to themselves flats in the prime property in the city, meant for defence personnel and their families.
Till now, the CBI has filed a charge sheet against 13 persons.
