Bombay HC Dismisses PIL For CBI Probe Against Pawars

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, MP Supriya Sule and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in connection with the alleged illegal permissions granted to the Lavasa hill station project near Pune.

The court held that the petitioner had failed to establish any legal basis for directing the registration of a criminal case while exercising its civil jurisdiction.

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 in the approvals granted to the private hill city project and sought criminal action against the accused. The bench had reserved its verdict on December 16 after observing that the petitioner was required to place sufficient material on record to substantiate his allegations.

The PIL had sought directions to the CBI to register a case against Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar and Ajit Gulabchand, a close associate of the Pawar family, alleging that the permissions granted to the Lavasa project were illegal.

The bench also noted that Jadhav had earlier filed a similar PIL, which was dismissed in February 2022 on the ground of “gross delay”, as it was instituted nearly a decade after the project commenced. In that order, the High Court had observed that there appeared to be some exertion of influence by Sharad Pawar and his daughter, and had noted that Ajit Pawar, then the State irrigation minister, had failed to disclose his direct or indirect interest in the project and was “remiss in his duty” to that extent.

In the fresh PIL filed in 2023, Jadhav claimed that he had approached the Pune police commissioner in December 2018 seeking a probe against the Pawars and others, but no action was taken.

Earlier this year, Sharad Pawar filed an intervention application opposing the maintainability of the fresh PIL, contending that the petitioner was repeatedly raising the same or substantially similar allegations through successive proceedings despite earlier refusals by the court. Accepting this objection, the High Court dismissed the petition.

The Lavasa project was an attempt to build India’s first completely private, planned hill station. The project was the brainchild of Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC). Local villagers and activists protested against the project alleging that tribal lands were grabbed or purchased at unfairly low prices through coercion.

In 2008, the state government granted Lavasa “Special Planning Authority” (SPA) status, which effectively allowed the corporation to approve its own construction plans. However, the project remains unfinished till date.