Nagpur: Nagpur bench of Mumbai High Court, on Aug 19, turned down the election petition filed by Satish Uke against South West Nagpur MLA and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis alleging suppression of material facts in the election affidavit.
Pronouncing judgment, Justice Ravi Deshpande said the petition filed by petitioner Satish Uke held no substance in the allegation he had levelled against Devendra Fadnavis, and so the petition was dismissed.
It may be mentioned that Satish Uke had claimed in his petition that Devendra Fadnavis deliberately suppressed in the election affidavit that two criminal cases were pending against him. On the other hand, Fadnavis claimed that as per RTI information sought by him from district court as well as prosecuting agencies, the cases against him were of civil nature and no summons were delivered to him.
Senior advocate Sunil Manohar who appeared on behalf of Devendra Fadnavis in the high court raised the issue of maintainability of the election petition and urged the court for its dismissal at the motion hearing. Interestingly, the criminal cases in question were settled by parties as they took no steps to prosecute matter during last 20 years. The high court permitted them to withdraw the cases and quashed the cases. Uke had tried to question even this decision only to get strong rap from high court. The supreme court also rejected his SLP on Monday. Now the election petition bases on pendency of these two cases and their non disclosure also has been formally dismissed.
Supreme court verdict of 17th August
Apex Court rejects SLP against CM
Supreme Court of India has upheld the order of Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court dismissing the “wild and baseless allegations” made against the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Government Pleader Bharati Dangre in an application filed by one Satish Uke.
A division bench of Supreme Court consisting of Justice Jagdish Singh Kehar and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel dismissed the SLP filed by Uke challenging the order dated January 16 and all interlocutory applications questioning the High Court ruling. The Apex Court found no ground to interfere into the matter and dismissed the same on Monday.
The High Court in its order had chided the applicant, Satsih Uke, for making reckless allegations of hatching criminal conspiracy and forgery against Chief Minister and Government Pleader while dubbing such an application as nothing but the gross abuse of process of law. Making such wild allegations against persons holding such responsible positions like Chief Minister and Government Pleader is “thoroughly irresponsible,” the High Court had stated while disapproving such conduct.
