A retired high court judge Kailash Uttamchand Chandiwal has been appointed to probe serious allegations leveled by senior IPS officer Parambir Singh against state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday alleged that the Kailash Chandiwal Committee was a mere "eyewash" and he had no powers under the Judicial Commission as it was not given powers under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1952..
After which there was tweet exchange between Devendra Fadnavis and Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad.Regarding the powers given to the committee, Fadnavis said that the Chandiwal committee has been given the status of a simple committee and not the powers of a judicial commission.
The committee cannot be called a judicial commission as it was not given powers under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1952. Justice in our time.
"Neither it (the Chandiwal committee) is constituted nor it has been given the powers under the Commission of Inquiry Act (1952) as was done in case of justice Zoting Committee during our tenure," Fadnavis tweeted.
The Justice Zoting Committee is probing allegations of land grab against former BJP leader Eknath Khadse who had resigned as a cabinet minister in the Fadnavis-led government in 2016 following the controversy.
Earlier, NCP leader and minister Jitendra Awhad had said that the orders issued to set up the Zoting and Chandiwal panels were almost identical. Awhad had tagged Fadnavis in his tweet and sought production of official order, if any, issued by the then CM empowering the Zoting Committee with the Commission of Inquiry Act. Fadnavis responded with a letter issued by his government delegating powers under the Commission of Inquiry Act to the Zoting Committee. Jitendra Awhad replied and wrote,"You released this letter five months later ... why are you in a hurry now?"