Mumbai, January 18
The Bombay High Court today pulled up the CBI for the “delay” in filing an FIR in the Adarsh housing scam and ordered it to take a final decision within two weeks even as the Maharashtra Government opposed a probe by the Central agency.

The court also directed issuing of summons to CBI’s Regional Joint Director to appear before it when the court would hear the case again after two weeks.

During the hearing of a petition in the Adarsh case, a Division Bench of Justices BH Marlapalle and UD Salvi asked, “It has been more than two months since the CBI has been conducting a preliminary inquiry into the case. Why have you (the CBI) not registered an FIR as yet?”

“We fail to understand why there is a delay in lodging of an FIR. Media reports have virtually carried CBI’s draft FIR and revealed all accused’s names,” Justice Marlapalle said.

An affidavit submitted by the state Home Department in the court said, “In the Adarsh case, the issues which arise fall within the domain of the state government. The Central Government has little or no concern with the same. There is, therefore, no jurisdictional basis for handing over the investigations to the CBI. The assumption that the Anti-Corruption Branch being a state agency is not suitable for or will have difficulty in inquiring into the allegation or issues in view of the alleged involvement of officials of the Central Government is totally misconceived.”

“The petitioner completely overlooks the fact that it is the nature of the offence and not the identity of the offender which is paramount,” it said, adding there was no merit in the petitioner’s contention casting doubts about ACB’s ability to probe the case.

“Handing over such an investigation to another agency, or the CBI, is an extreme measure and rarely resorted to,” it said, adding there was no jurisdictional basis for handing over the case to the CBI.

The petition was filed by activist Simpreet Singh saying since both the CBI and the state Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) were involved in the probe, it might create issue of jurisdiction “which might hamper the probe”.

According to the petition, with three former Chief Ministers allegedly involved in the scam, the ACB may be under pressure not to effectively probe the case and hence the entire investigation should be handed over to the CBI.

The CBI sought four weeks to finish the probe, saying, “It is a sensitive case involving big names. The agency does not want to take any hasty decision.” The court, however, refused to grant more than two weeks to the agency. — PTI 

Mumbai: Maharashtra Governor K Shankaranarayanan on Tuesday referred the matter of the sacking of State Information Commissioner Ramanand Tiwari to the Supreme Court under the provisions of the Right to Information Act. Along with a number of bureaucrats and politicians, Tiwari, as the Secretary, Urban Development, is accused of favouring the construction of building in return for a flat for his son Omkar. — TNS