Stating that public interest is paramount, the Bombay HC on Monday refused to grant relief to Thomas Benjamin, current Additional Chief Secretary (Public Health) who prayed for quashing a special court order asking the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to probe allegations against him and a developer in a multi-crore land scam. Hearing his petition, Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari said, “In public interest such a relief cannot be given.”
The ACB informed that it would file a report within eight weeks in a special court to probe against Mr Benjamin in the alleged real estate scam. A statement to this effect was made by prosecutor Aruna Pai before the court, which took it on record and disposed of the petition.
Mr Benjamin’s lawyer Satish Borulkar prayed for withdrawing the petition, which was allowed by the court. Mr Benjamin, the then principal secretary in the Urban Development Department, is accused of not taking action against Niranjan Hiranandani who allegedly built luxury flats in suburban Powai in the breach of a tripartite agreement among the builder, the state government and MMRDA.
A special ACB court had last July ordered an inquiry against Mr Benjamin and Mr Hiranandani on a complaint made by activist Santosh Daundkar. The ACB filed an FIR against the two on July 5 last year.
Mr Daundkar alleged that the developer had flouted the tripartite agreement with the state and MMRDA which allowed him to develop 230 acres in Powai and construct affordable houses and hand over part to the state.