The latest affidavit, however, stated that the due process of filling through the VIDC was followed. Hence, Sanjay Barve’s monitoring was rejected
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has given a clean chit to the NCP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the investigation of cases of alleged corruption in irrigation projects in the state.
Pawar gets cleared of all allegations in the Vidarbha irrigation scam by the Maharashtra ACB, according to an affidavit submitted before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on November 27.
The affidavit was filed just a day before the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government was sworn in the state on November 28.
Earlier also it was reported that Ajit Pawar got a clean chit in the irrigation days after he ditched his uncle, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, and joined hands with BJP leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The NCP leader Ajit Pawar, chairman of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), cannot be held liable for acts of the executing agencies as there is no legal duty on his side, the affidavit mentions.
The former ACB chief and incumbent Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Barve, a few years ago had filed an affidavit in the court which said that in the Gosikhurd and Jigaon projects, Pawar had signed extension of tenders himself. The latest affidavit, however, stated that the due process of filling through the VIDC was followed. Hence, Sanjay Barve’s monitoring was rejected.
The recent affidavit said, “As regards grant of sanction to the liability of the tender cost including that of updated cost, it is disclosed during the course of inquiry as well as investigation that only note-sheets for grant of accountability of the tender cost were sent to the chairman of the corporation by the executive director of the VIDC.”
Ajit Pawar belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), along with others, was in-charge of Maharashtra’s irrigation department when the Congress-NCP coalition government was in power in the state from 1999 to 2014. During that period in which the scam, related to alleged irregularities in various irrigation projects happened.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
