Today (6th March) Sharad Pawar, has lodged a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court against the Lavasa project. The PIL concerns over environmental impacts and alleged irregularities associated with the development near Pune, Maharashtra.
Mumbai, March 6, 2024: Sharad Pawar, the founding member of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has taken legal action by filing an intervention application in the Bombay High Court. This move comes in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by an advocate, urging for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule, and Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar. The PIL alleges irregularities in granting permissions for the construction of a private hill station at Lavasa in Pune district.
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Pawar, through his legal representative, Joel Carlos, has requested to be included as a respondent in the PIL to present his arguments against the petition. The intervention aims to ensure a fair hearing of his stance on the matter.
“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,” Pawar said in the application.
The advocate Nanasaheb Jadhav initiated the PIL last year, seeking a CBI investigation into alleged illegalities involving the Pawar family and certain state officials. However, senior counsel Aspi Chinoy, representing Sharad Pawar, highlighted that similar accusations had been previously dismissed by the High Court in 2022. The court had ruled against Jadhav’s earlier petition regarding Lavasa project permissions. Despite this, Jadhav persisted in moving the matter to the Supreme Court, where it is currently pending.
Chinoy emphasized that the grounds for Jadhav’s current petition have already been addressed and disposed of by the High Court. Pawar’s intervention application argues against the repetition of allegations in successive legal proceedings.
The Bombay High Court has instructed Jadhav to respond to Pawar’s application within two weeks. The court will resume hearing the case in four weeks’ time.
Background
In February 2022, the High Court declined to intervene in Jadhav’s previous petition challenging special permissions granted to the Lavasa project. However, it noted the potential influence exerted by Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule on the project. Jadhav subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court against the judgment.
In the recent PIL filed in 2023, Jadhav stated that his complaint to the Pune police commissioner in December 2018 did not prompt any action against Pawar and others involved in the Lavasa project.
The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, witnessed a split last year when his nephew, Ajit Pawar, joined the Maharashtra government led by Eknath Shinde.
