HC: March 31 will not be deadline for works approved by former government

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Santosh Chapalgaonkar, on Monday, clarified that the deadline for the approved development works included in the annual budget by the then Thackeray-led government will not be March 31, 2023. The bench also ordered the chief public prosecutor to procure the necessary information in this regard. The next hearing will be held on April 6.

Earlier, the current Shinde-Fadnavis government stayed these works, but the bench, in its previous order had ordered to complete them.

On the same lines, other petitions were filed expressing fear that funds of these sanctioned works would get lapsed if they remained unutilised after March 31. In reaction to this, the High Court gave the above verdict.

The petitions were related to works from departments like Soil and Water Conservation, Tourism, Tribal Development, Minority Affairs, Public Works Department, Planning and Rural Development. The petition feared that the funds could get lapsed citing the reason for non-utilisation by concerned departments.

The petitions were filed by Bansi Shelke, Kishore Narwade, Deepak Markad, public representatives Chandrakant Navghare, Balasaheb Ajbe, Jitesh Antapurkar and Amarnath Rajurkar, Suryakant Kolte, Madhavrao Pawar, Priyanka Shejul, Ilyas Khwajamiya, Ajay Chaudhary, Damayanti Sawant, Nandkishore Paithane, and former minister K C Padavi (of Nandurbar) through Adv Sambhaji Tope.

Meanwhile, the chief public prosecutor Dnyaneshwar Kale sought time to produce the necessary information in the court.