CBI to File Appeal Against Order That Gave Relief to Ashok Chavan in Adarsh Scam

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday decided to file an appeal in the Supreme Court to be allowed to prosecute former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh housing scam.

The probe agency informed the apex court that they will file an appeal to challenge the order which quashed sanction to prosecute the Congress leader in the case. The court will hear the case in March.

This comes after the Bombay High Court on December 22, 2017, set aside sanction given by Maharashtra Governor C Vidhyasagar Rao to prosecute Chavan.

Chavan, the incumbent Maharashtra Congress Chief, was the CM when scam took place. He was forced to resign as CM after the allegations of his involvement in the scam surfaced.

In February 2016, Rao had granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute Chavan for offences under IPC sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating and under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai was meant for the families of Kargil heroes. But Army officers, politicians and bureaucrats were allegedly allotted flats in violation of the rules. Seen as a symbol of corruption, the Adarsh scam had kicked up a huge political storm after it surfaced in 2010.

The Bombay high court, in an order last year, blamed members of the housing society, who it said happened to be close relatives of highly-placed bureaucrats or related to politicians or ministers, for conspiring with them to grab a plot.

Then defence minister A K Antony had on December 9, 2010, ordered a CBI probe to fix responsibility among armed forces and defence estates officers in the scam.