The court had pulled up
Deshmukh and passed strong strictures against him for assisting the family of
Sanand, the Congress legislator from Buldhana district, and supporting his
family members who were engaged in money lending business.
The court increased the
fine on the state government from 25,000 rupees imposed by the Nagpur Bench of
the Bombay High Court to one million rupees, asking it to deposit the amount in
the court in six weeks time.
The state government
realizing that Monday was the last day for paying up the fine paid it a few
hours prior to the closure of the court timings.
After the court had passed
the strictures against Deshmukh, the demand that Deshmukh should pay the fine
instead of the government was echoed by the opposition parties and the public,
and the issue was discussed at various platforms. But Deshmukh failed to budge
to the demand. Finally the state government was compelled to pay the fine. The opposition
parties have once again demanded that due to the criminal acts of Deshmukh the
state was burdened by paying the fine, therefore the fine should be recovered
from Deshmukh.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court
Justice A.K. Ganguly hearing the case in which Deshmukh is involved came down
heavily on the federal Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
government and said that it was shocking how the government allows ministers
like Deshmukh in the Cabinet, when the court had found Deshmukh guilty of
preventing cops from acting against legislator Sanand's kin.
Justice Ganguly said that
it was surprising how Deshmukh was elevated from the Ministry of Heavy
Industries portfolio to Rural Development in a Cabinet reshuffle last month.
"It's shocking that a politician (Deshmukh) who was found guilty by the
Supreme Court was still in his "full glory" and this was
"shameless," the judge said.
