Lavasa Hill Station Case: Sharad Pawar Files Mediation Petition in Bombay HC Against CBI Probe PIL

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has filed a mediation petition in the High Court against a PIL seeking a CBI probe into him, his daughter Supriya Sule, and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar for permitting illegal construction of Lavasa hill station in Pune.

Through the mediation petition filed by Adv Joel Carlos, Sharad Pawar sought to be made a respondent of a petition filed by lawyer Nanasaheb Jadhav so that he could make his stand.  

Jadhav, in his petition, has sought a direction to conduct a CBI probe against Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar, and some other government officials in connection with the irregularities in Lavasa. Jadhav has been repeatedly accusing the Pawar family. In 2022, the High Court dismissed Jadhav's petition regarding the permissions granted to the Lavasa project. Jadhav then moved to the Supreme Court, where the hearing on the petition was pending, as argued by senior advocate Aspi Chinoy before a bench consisting of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Arif Doctor. Jadhav had filed a PIL in the high court for a CBI probe, Chinoy said. 

"All the issues on which the petition has been filed had been filed earlier. The court dismissed the earlier petition only after considering all those factors. Therefore, a criminal PIL cannot be filed on the basis of common issues," Pawar said in the petition.