'Courts can't order registration of case against particular person'

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar. Picture/ Twitter Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told the Bombay High Court here on Wednesday that courts can not order registration of a case against a particular person. The NCP leader had faced allegations of corruption in an alleged scam related to irrigation projects in Vidarbha. The Anti-Corruption Bureau of state police told the Nagpur bench of the HC last year that there was no evidence against Pawar. He filed the latest affidavit in response to an application by Atul Jagtap seeking that the court monitors the probe of the multi-crore scam.

The application also demanded transfer of the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Pawar, during the Congress-NCP government in the state prior to 2014, was the head of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation in his capacity as an irrigation minister. His affidavit said the state had already set the criminal law in motion, and the courts cannot look into or supervise the investigation in such a case.

Moreover, the courts can not direct that a particular person be made an accused, it added. "There is no scope of judicial tailoring of a police investigation," the deputy CM said in the affidavit. A court supervises a probe only to ensure there is no undue delay and the investigation is carried out in a fair and just manner without external interference, it said. Pawar also averred that he had not indulged in any "corrupt, motivated or malafide acts" while discharging his duties as a minister.

The high court had on February 13 refused to make CBI and ED respondents to Jagtap's plea while directing Pawar to file an affidavit-in-reply. The next hearing would be on March 13.

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