Sachin Waze saga claims Maharashtra home minister’s job

Mired in controversies for almost two months Anil Deshmukh resigned from the home ministerrsquos post on Monday after a division bench of Bombay High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI to conduct a preliminary probe into the graft allegations levelled by cityrsquos former police commissioner Param Bir Singh State Excise and Labour Minister Dilip Walse Patil was named Deshmukhrsquos replacement in the eveningThe new home minister Dilip Walse PatilDeshmukh submitted his papers to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray after consulting his party boss Sharad Pawar and senior leaders His letter said that holding a ministerrsquos office while under a CBI probe would be morally inappropriate After leaving the office Deshmukh decided to challenge the high courtrsquos order in the Supreme Court and left for New Delhi to engage lawyersWalse Patilrsquos experience as a minister of energy and finance in the previous governments an excellent stint as Speaker and his close association with Pawar landed him the crucial job amid the crisis His labour department was given to Rural Development Minister Hassan Mushrif and excise went to Finance Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit PawarPrevious resignation in MVAIn February this year Shiv Senarsquos Sanjay Rathod quit on the eve of the budget session due to allegations of abetting a womanrsquos suicide The Sena hasnrsquot inducted a new face in the Cabinet Some Congress leaders want their party to rejig the partyrsquos ministerial offices but the high command hasnrsquot shown much interest in changing the setupAnil DeshmukhEven before the dust could have settled over the Rathod episode Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis had raised the Sachin Waze case in the legislature creating a political storm The NCP defended Deshmukh to the hilt but the high courtrsquos directive prompted him to step downThe DeshmukhSingh spat took political and police circles by storm last month when Singh wrote to the CM and governor alleging that Deshmukh had given certain police officers including Waze orders to collect Rs 100 crore per month from Mumbairsquos hotels restaurants and bars Later he moved the apex court which asked him to approach the high court Bombay High Courtrsquos Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni clubbed four writ petitions and PILs in this regard The division bench issued orders in a writ petition filed by Dr Jaishri Patil who had filed a complaint based on Singhrsquos allegations seeking enquiry against Deshmukh but was aggrieved because of inaction from the policeWhat court saidThe court said that directions are required for facilitating an unbiased impartial fair but effective probe so that the truth is unearthed and the devil if any shamed in accordance with the procedure established by law ldquoHere Shri Deshmukh is the Home Minister The police department is under his control and direction There can be no fair impartial unbiased and untainted probe if the same were entrusted to the State Police Force As of necessity the probe has to be entrusted to an independent agency like the CBIrdquo said the courtThe order said that there was no immediate reason to direct registration of an FIR by the CBI based on Dr Patilrsquos complaint ldquoInterest of justice in our opinion would be sufficiently served if the Director CBI is directed to initiate a preliminary enquiry into the complaint of Dr Patil which has the letter of Shri Param Bir addressed to the Honrsquoble Chief Minister as an annexure Also the press release of Shri Deshmukh suggests that he is not averse to facing any enquiryrdquo it added asking the CBI to complete a preliminary probe in 15 days The court said the director CBI shall be at liberty to decide on the future course of action and inform the petitioner accordinglyWhat Opposition saidldquoWe expected Mr Sharad Pawar to seek Deshmukhrsquos resignation after Singhrsquos allegations and IPS officer Rashmi Shuklarsquos report in the police transfer racket came to the fore But Mr Pawar had to wait for the high courtrsquos decisionrdquo he saidFadnavis said that in the matters related to Deshmukh Thackeray hadnrsquot conducted himself in a manner appropriate for the CMrsquos office ldquoHe hasnrsquot spoken a word Things like resignations should happen through himrdquo he said adding that he had been questioning the morality of the government which was finally invoked in Deshmukhrsquos resignation ldquoI wasnrsquot given an appropriate answer when I presented the matter with all evidence Instead they wanted to investigate me Irsquom happy that the court has accepted things that I have said Now we need to find out Wazersquos real handlerrdquo said the exCMNCPrsquos home ministry jinxIn coalition governments that it has been part of since 1999 the NCP has so far asked three ministers in charge of the home department to quit In the CongressNCP governments Chhagan Bhujbal had to go in the alleged Telgi stamp paper scam He returned after the storm was over Then RR Patil quit in the wake of the 2611 terror attacks which also saw the then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh go Patil too returned later Deshmukh became the third to resign after the high courtordered CBI probe in graft allegations It remains to be seen whether he too will return