Govt to comply with HC 'expectations' in land case: Chavan

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday said his government would comply with the 'expectations' of Bombay High Court in land allotment case involving filmmaker Subhash Ghai's institute but remained tightlipped on role of his party colleague Vilasrao Deshmukh.

"I have not read the court judgement so far. We will study the judgement and comply with the expectations of the court," he told reporters here.

Chavan was reacting to media queries related to the HC's indictment of then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for the allotment of 20-acre land of Film City in Mumbai's Goregaon to Ghai for his film institute, Whistling Woods.

Declining to comment on the role of Deshmukh, now a Union Minster, he said, "He is our senior party leader and a Minister. I will not make any comment based on newspaper reports."

On Thursday, the HC had held Deshmukh responsible for 'misusing his official position' as Chief Minister to hand over the land to Ghai at reduced prices.

It termed the transaction 'illegal, arbitrary and without authority of law' and directed that the land be handed over to the Government.

Chavan, who was here to campaign for Congress for the February 16 civic polls, said his party would pursue the metro project with the Centre if elected to power in the 152- member Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

On the stand taken by NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar favouring an underground metro in Pune, the CM said it was important to study the techo-economical feasibility of the project before taking any decision.

"The citizens should find it affordable to travel by the proposed metro. The option of underground metro is good but could be more costly," he said, adding there should not be any politics in development work.