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Panel probing charges against Deshmukh an eyewash, says BJP; NCP hits back
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday set up the committee to be headed by retired high court judge Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal and gave a timeline of six months to submit a report.
Calling it an “eyewash”, former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday asserted that the appointment of a panel by the state government to probe the allegations by former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh against home minister Anil Deshmukh was without any judicial powers and would not serve any purpose.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday set up the committee to be headed by retired high court judge Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal and gave a timeline of six months to submit a report.
“Neither it (Chandiwal committee) is constituted nor it has been given the powers under the Commission of Inquiry Act (1952) as was done in case of Justice Zoting Committee during our tenure,” Fadnavis said.
Also read | You were duty-bound to file FIR against Deshmukh, HC tells Param Bir Singh
The Justice Zoting Committee is probing allegations of land grab against former BJP leader Eknath Khadse who resigned as a cabinet minister in the Fadnavis-led government in 2016 following the controversy.
Pointing at Fadnavis’ “double standards”, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and minority affairs minister Nawab Malik said: “The Zoting committee too was constituted under similar provisions to probe the allegations of the MIDC land case. What was valid during their tenure is now invalid according to Fadnavis. This is nothing but double standards.”
IPS officer-turned-advocate Y P Singh said the committee is just an administrative arrangement and would not solve any purpose.
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