The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday rejected a bunch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) demanding initiation of a criminal case against Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati and others in the Taj heritage corridor case.
A division bench comprising Justice Imtiaj Murtaza and Justice Ashwini Kumar Singh rejected the PILs which challenged the decision of the CBI not to chargesheet Mayawati in the case due to lack of prosecution sanction by the competent authority. The court rejected six PILs on the ground that the prosecution sanction has not been granted.
The PILs were filed challenging the refusal of the UP governor to prosecute Mayawati and her close aide Naseemuddin Siddiqui. Mayawati’s counsel and senior BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra said the verdict of the High Court has vindicated the former chief minister.
Mishra said Mayawati was not even aware of the case during her tenure. He said the court has accepted the CBI’s arguments for refusing to file chargesheet against Mayawati. ‘The PILs were politically motivated and there was no ground of their acceptance,’ he said. In 2007, the then UP governor had refused permission for a CBI investigation to prosecute the then Chief Minister Mayawati in the Rs 17-crore scam.
The PILs were filed in 2009 and the lawyers for the petitioners have argued that several past SC judgments stated that the CBI does not need sanction from a competent authority to prosecute any public servant. The petitioners had alleged the sanction to prosecute Mayawati was denied due to cordial relations between the Centre and Mayawati.
The Taj corridor project was launched by Mayawati in 2002 to beautify areas adjoining the Taj Mahal. An amount of Rs 17 crore was reportedly released and work began without the necessary environmental clearances. In 2003, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to conduct an inquiry into these allegations. The CBI found the charges to be prima-facie true and lodged an FIR. In 2007 the CBI sought permission to chargesheet Mayawati and aide Siddiqui, charging them with fraud and criminal conspiracy. But the same year Mayawati returned to power and Governor TV Rajeshwar denied legal permission to try her.
A division bench comprising Justice Imtiaj Murtaza and Justice Ashwini Kumar Singh rejected the PILs which challenged the decision of the CBI not to chargesheet Mayawati in the case due to lack of prosecution sanction by the competent authority. The court rejected six PILs on the ground that the prosecution sanction has not been granted.
The PILs were filed challenging the refusal of the UP governor to prosecute Mayawati and her close aide Naseemuddin Siddiqui. Mayawati’s counsel and senior BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra said the verdict of the High Court has vindicated the former chief minister.
Mishra said Mayawati was not even aware of the case during her tenure. He said the court has accepted the CBI’s arguments for refusing to file chargesheet against Mayawati. ‘The PILs were politically motivated and there was no ground of their acceptance,’ he said. In 2007, the then UP governor had refused permission for a CBI investigation to prosecute the then Chief Minister Mayawati in the Rs 17-crore scam.
The PILs were filed in 2009 and the lawyers for the petitioners have argued that several past SC judgments stated that the CBI does not need sanction from a competent authority to prosecute any public servant. The petitioners had alleged the sanction to prosecute Mayawati was denied due to cordial relations between the Centre and Mayawati.
The Taj corridor project was launched by Mayawati in 2002 to beautify areas adjoining the Taj Mahal. An amount of Rs 17 crore was reportedly released and work began without the necessary environmental clearances. In 2003, the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to conduct an inquiry into these allegations. The CBI found the charges to be prima-facie true and lodged an FIR. In 2007 the CBI sought permission to chargesheet Mayawati and aide Siddiqui, charging them with fraud and criminal conspiracy. But the same year Mayawati returned to power and Governor TV Rajeshwar denied legal permission to try her.