Bombay HC directs ACB not to register FIR against former slum chief

MUMBAI: In a relief for former chief of Slum Rehabilitation Authority, Vishwas Patil, the Bombay high court on Wednesday stayed initiation of criminal proceedings against him. The court directed the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) not to register any FIR against him as ordered by a special lower court.
The HC was hearing a petition by Patil and observed that he had raised significant questions over law on the issue or prior sanction required before registration of a criminal case against a public servant.
His counsel Amit Desai with advocate Subir Kumar argued that under a Maharashtra amendment to the criminal procedural law a sanction is required to be taken when there are accusations under the Indian Penal Code against a public servant, even a former one. Desai said that the lower court passed an order without segregating the offences against him.
The Prosecutor said the ACB could register an offence and if any IPC sections are there sanction could be sought. But the HC agreed with Desai who said that it was not for the agency to decide if the order makes no such mention.
The HC said since question of law is involved in the case an exhaustive hearing is required and placed the matter on September 8.
Patil's petition challenges the validity of an order of the special judge under the Prevention of Corruption Act which had ordered the ACB to register a First Information Report (FIR) against him as former Mumbai suburban collector and former Chief Executive Officer, Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), his wife and two developers Ramji Shah and Rasesh Kanakia.
Desai said that law requires prior sanction to be taken before a court can order investigation against a person who is or was a public servant. He also said that Patil was merely discharging his "ministerial functions" as a collector in 2009 on a decision taken by someone else.
The ACB special judge had last month passed the order against Patil and others on a private complaint filed by a Malad resident and shop occupant Hitendra Yadav. The complainant sought an FIR to be registered and probed for criminal conspiracy under IPC and misconduct under PCA against Patil and others for conspiring to hand over a large government area as free sale plot, where Kanakia is constructing a luxury project called, Kanakia Levels. The allegation is that Vishwas Patil as then Mumbai suburban district collector covered a government land at Malad east to developer Ramji Shah, after his wife was made Director in Shah’s Company. In a slum rehabilitation scheme, 44% extra land was given for development to the Kanakias, alleged Yadav’s lawyer Aditya Pratap.
The lower court had agreed with Pratap's submission that law doesn't require prior sanction to register a criminal case of corruption against Vishwas Patil,a public servant, as he had retired in June.
The ACB has not yet registered the FIR.
Patil has contended that the plot was divided for FSI use by SRA (Slum Rehabilitation Authority), not him and he was not even in SRA when the letter of intent was issued.
He said that the "land was acquired by Government of Maharashtra" and he had "no role to play towards granting land to Shah Housecon Pvt. Ltd."
His wife is also a petitioner. The petition said that "Chandrasena Vishwas Patil was not a director in Shah Housecon Pvt. Ltd."
Their plea is that the Complainant had knowledge about execution of lease deed since 2009, but kept silent for seven years and hence said that the complaint was "motivated".
His case is also that the law prohibited registration of FIR against public servant without prior sanction of the government.
The Patils had pleaded that no coercive steps be taken against them and the trial court order be set aside.