Relief to Vilasrao as court dismisses petition against him

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition seeking Rs. 10 lakh fine to be levied on the Maharashtra government by the Supreme Court be recovered from former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

The Supreme Court had last year imposed a fine of Rs. 10 lakh on the Maharashtra government after complaints that Mr. Deshmukh's personal secretary had called up the police to restrain them from taking action against Congress Member of Legislative Assembly Dilip Sananda and his moneylender father.

But the Division Bench of Justices B. H. Marlapalle and U. D. Salvi dismissed the petition stating that there was no Supreme Court direction to register any offence against Mr. Deshmukh. “The court also observed that there was no Supreme Court direction to recover money from him,” Mr. Tirodkar said. The court has now directed Mr. Tirodkar to approach the Supreme Court in this regard.

Mr. Deshmukh is currently the Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.

Last year, the Supreme Court had fined the State government after it appealed against the order passed by the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court fining the State government Rs. 25,000 after allegations by a group of farmers from Buldhana that the police refused to take any action against Mr. Sananda.

No action was taken because of a call from Mr. Deshmukh's personal secretary for barring any action against the Sanandas. The State government appealed in the Supreme Court against the order and the Supreme court increased the fine amount by 40 times.