AAP moves HC, accuses Bhujbal of receiving kickbacks

Aam Aadmi Party has moved the Bombay high court seeking registration of an FIR against Maharashtra Public Works Department Minister Chhagan Bhujbal for allegedly misusing his official position to award contracts for rebuilding Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and Mumbai and receiving kickbacks from the contractor.

The matter came up for hearing for the first time on Thursday during which Bhujbal's counsel Prasad Dhakephalkar contended the petition was not maintainable.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah, directed Bhujbal, a senior Nationalist Congress Party leader and the state's former deputy chief minister, to file an affidavit within two weeks in support of his contention over maintainability of the petition.

It also allowed AAP, which sought the court's direction for registration of an FIR against Bhujbal, his relatives and others and a probe into the charges levelled by it, by a Special Investigation Team, to file a rejoinder two weeks after an affidavit has been filed on behalf of the minister.

The petition said AAP had to move the court since no action was allegedly taken on its representations to the state's governor, the chief minister, the commissioner of income tax, the director general of anti-corruption bureau and the chief vigilance commissioner.