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MoD's affidavit against Admiral Bhagwat's plea

R P Bagai, joint secretary (navy) to Ministry of Defence, today filed an affidavit in Bombay high court opposing the admission of a writ petition filed by former chief of naval staff Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat praying to reinstate him in naval services.

A division bench comprising of Justice M B Godeshwar and Justice S Radhakrishan adjourned the proceedings of the case up to November 30.

Admiral Bhagwat was sacked by a presidential order on December 13 last year.

In his petition Bhagwat has made the then defence minister George Fernandes and Union of India as a respondents.

Bagai, in his affidavit, said the petition had been filed in order to subserve extraneous political purposes with an obvious attempt to pursue a political objective. He also submitted that the petitioner was a compulsive litigant who often made baseless and unsubstantiated allegations against senior public officials.

Advocate Dhanjayay Chanrachud, who appeared on behalf of Union of India, informed the court that it was necessary to point out that prior to filing of the petition and thereafter, the petitioner had approached the press and had appeared on the electronic media for projecting his views. Advocate Chandrachud also pointed that the Bombay high court and Delhi high court have already rejected similar public interest litigations urging for a direction to reinstate Bhagwat.

UNI

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