The division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice of the Bombay high court on Friday recused itself from hearing public interest litigation seeking a direction to the commissioner of police, Mumbai to
The division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice of the Bombay high court on Friday recused itself from hearing public interest litigation seeking a direction to the commissioner of police, Mumbai to file a case of cheating and forgery against lawmaker Hema Malini and Maharashtra revenue minister Eknath Khadse on the charge of illegally allotting land for her dance academy at a nominal price.
Former scribe turned social activist Ketan Tirodkar, who has filed the PIL, mentioned the matter before Acting Chief Justice V.K. Tahilramani and Justice Dr Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi. However, the judge said, “not before me”.
The petition will now be assigned before an appropriate bench in due course. The PIL has alleged that there have been a series of judgments of the high court and the Supreme Court stating that public property cannot be allotted by the state without issuing advertisements inviting applications from the needy people.
The petitioner has termed allotting the plot of land in suburban Andheri to the actor a violation of norms and orders of the high court. The portion of land had been given to the veteran actor to institute an academy to train students in the classical dance of Bharatnatyam.
The PIL further alleged that the decision was taken after a meeting chaired by the principal secretary (revenue) on December 19, 2015, leading to allotment of land for a pittance of '70,000 for a plot worth crores of rupees restored for the academy.
