Sharad Pawar moves Bombay High Court against PIL seeking CBI probe against him for alleged irregularities in Lavasa

NCP founder Sharad Pawar has moved the Bombay High Court against a PIL filed by an advocate seeking a CBI probe against him, his daughter Supriya Sule and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar

NCP founder Sharad Pawar has moved the Bombay High Court against a PIL filed by an advocate seeking a CBI probe against him, his daughter Supriya Sule and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar over alleged illegal permissions given to construct a private hill station at Lavasa in Pune district.

The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief, in his intervening application filed through advocate Joel Carlos, sought to be impleaded as a respondent in the public interest litigation (PIL) so that he could put forth his arguments against the petition.

Lawyer Nanasaheb Jadhav had last year filed the PIL seeking a direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a case against the three and some officials of the State government over the alleged irregularities.

Senior counsel Aspi Chinoy, appearing for Sharad Pawar, on Wednesday told the court that similar and identical allegations have been made by the petitioner Jadhav time and again.

Mr. Chinoy said in 2022, the high court had dismissed a similar petition filed by Mr. Jadhav against permissions granted to the Lavasa project. Jadhav then moved the Supreme Court and the matter is pending there.

In the meanwhile, Mr. Jadhav filed this petition here seeking a CBI probe into his complaint, Mr. Chinoy said.

"The entire premise on which the complaint is filed by the petitioner has been dealt with by the high court and disposed of. The petitioner cannot use the same facts for filing another proceeding styled as criminal public interest litigation," Mr. Pawar said in the application.