By IANS,
Mumbai : The Maharashtra government Monday challenged the Central Bureau of Investigation’s jurisdiction in the Adarsh Society scam even as the agency assured the Bombay High Court that it would file a charge sheet in the matter within 10 days.
The state government’s counsel Anil Sakhare argued that neither the state (government) nor the court has handed over the investigations to CBI, and a judicial commission has submitted a report concluding that the land on which the Adarsh Society building stands belongs to the state government and not the defence ministry.
“The CBI is asked to probe a matter only if the state government or the high court hands over the probe. In this matter neither has been done” Sakhare said, quoting the Delhi Police Special Establishment Act, under which the CBI came up.
The lawyer for Adarsh Society, Shekhar Naphade also questioned the CBI’s legal status and jurisdiction in probing the controversial matter, nearly one and half years after the agency lodged its complaint, naming former chief minister Ashok Chavan, politicians, serving or retired bureaucrats and defence personnel.
A division bench comprising Justice S. A. Bobade and Justice Mridula Bhatkar directed both Sakhare and Naphade to filed their respective affidavits in the matter
CBI counsel Ejaz Khan assured the court that the agency, which was planning to file its charge sheet by June 15, would file it within the next 10 days, following which the matter was adjourned till July 4.