Devendra Fadnavis to face trial in poll affidavit case
SC sets aside 2018 HC order that granted clean chit to the CM.
A three-judge Supreme Court (SC) bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi held on Tuesday that Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would have to face a criminal trial for failing to disclose information of two criminal cases against him in the 2014 Assembly election affidavit.
The top court set aside a May 2018 verdict by the Bombay high court, and a May 2016 decision by a Maharashtra sessions court, that had given the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader a clean chit in the matter.
“The judgments are legally not tenable and the same deserve to be set aside which we hereby do,” said the bench, also comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose.
The complaint against Fadnavis will be considered afresh by a trial court from the stage where it was interdicted by the May 2016 order, the SC bench held.
Tuesday’s judgment is unlikely to impact Fadnavis’s election prospects in the upcoming Assembly polls, scheduled on October 21. The CM is seeking a fifth consecutive term from Nagpur South West and was named as BJP candidate for the constituency on Tuesday. Under the law, a candidate can be barred from fighting elections only if he or she has been convicted. The CM office said it would be “wrong” and “contemptuous” to term the SC order a “permission to prosecute” Fadnavis.
“The SC order is to remand back the case to the trial court and not for any investigation or any other action. The order does not speak about Fadanavis’s prosecution,” the statement read.
In 2014, Satish Ukey, an advocate in the Bombay high court, filed a complaint in Nagpur alleging that Fadnavis failed to disclose details of two criminal cases pending against him in his election affidavit and demanded he be prosecuted for violation of section 125A of the Representation of People’s Act(RPA).
Section 125A of the RPA deals with the penalty for filing false affidavits. It says a candidate who himself or through his proposer, with intent to be elected in an election, fails or conceals any information, in his nomination papers, will be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend up to six months, or with fine, or both.
The two cases against Fadnavis pertained to alleged cheating and forgery and were filed in 1996 and 1998, respectively, but charges were not framed in either case.
The CM’s office described the two cases as “private complaints” filed against Fadnavis “for acting in public interest” when he was a corporator in Nagpur in the early 1990s.
“Fadnavis made two complaints to government authorities, one for removal of a government pleader and second to levy tax on a slum property. The government pleader filed a defamation case while, another lawyer filed complaint against Fadnavis and the municipal corporation in response of the tax on slums,” the statement added.
The CM’s office said the first case was withdrawn while the second was dismissed by the high court. “Since both the cases were private in nature, CM’s lawyers opined (during 2014 elections) that there was no need to mention them in election affidavit.”
The Opposition demanded Fadnavis’s resignation, saying that the investigation will be influenced if he continued to be the chief minister.
“The top court has allowed his prosecution and investigation against him. The further probe will be influenced if he remained CM and continued to head the home department. Police too should take action against him following the SC order,” said Eknath Gaikwad, Mumbai Congress president.
Nawab Malik, Mumbai unit chief of the Nationalist Congress Party, said Fadnavis has lost the moral ground to remain in the post. “It has been proved now that the CM hid the information related to the cases pending against him in the election affidavit filed in 2014 Assembly elections. This has been proved in the SC today. The person heading the state has no right to be in the politics too. He should be banned from contesting the elections too,” he said.
But the chief minister found some support from Ramdas Athawale, the Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment, who expressed confidence that Fadnavis will come out clean. “A lot of times, allegations hurled are politically motivated. There is nothing wrong if a court finds anything worth investigating. As far as I know, Devendra Fadnavis ji has been a representative with an unblemished track record,” said Athawale, whose Republican Party of India-Athawale is an ally of the BJP.
A retired IAS officer who has dealt with legislative issues said the case will hardly affect the CM politically. “Except for a stain on his clean image, the case would not have any political bearing. Such cases go on for years, without any firm implications.
The BJP’s Murbad MLA, Kisan Kathore, is facing a similar case of false affidavit he submitted for the 2004 elections. It’s pending in the Supreme Court when the MLA is contesting for his next term. In case of Fadnavis too, it will now be tried in sessions court and then in high and Supreme Court,” he said.