A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before the Bombay High Court by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya seeking a court monitored investigation into a property owned by Chief Minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray’s wife at Alibag in coastal Maharashtra by the authorities.
As per the BJP leader the interventionof court is required to determine the true nature of illegalities and irregularities committed on a property in Alibaug. Int his regard a plea has been moved against CM Thackeray, his wife Rashmi Thackeray, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Ravindra Waikar and his wife Manisha Waikar.
The plea states that the property tax receipts establish the existence of a structure which was deliberately hidden by the CM and Waikar when submitting their affidavit before elections in terms of the Representation of Peoples Act.
“Since the fact of these structures are now well established and supported by public documents, it was mandatory, for respondent no.s 1 and 4 to disclose the same in their affidavits… Not having done so constitutes an electoral offence and corrupt practice, in terms of which, this on Hon’ble Court ought to disqualify respondents no.s 1 and 4,” the plea said.
The plea also submits that the structure on the property was illegally constructed without sanctions and authorisations.It further mentions that the property is situated within 100 meters of the coastline.“Even otherwise, no environmental and/ or forest clearance appears to be taken by respondents prior to carrying out any construction even though the subject property falls within the area of reserved forests,” the petition stated.
The BJP leader Somaiya said that even after writing a letter to to State and local authorities demanding action nothing happened since the respondents were sitting members of Maharashtra’s legislative assembly. The leader added that the role of state has been violative of Article 14, 19, and 21
AS he was left with no options“Left with no other recourse, the petitioner is constrained to approach this Hon’ble Court demanding the justice which has been denied”, he stated. Somaiya, therefore, sought independent government authorities to carry out an investigation into the property and submit their reports to Court