A year before the judicial panel report indicting politicos and babus in the Adarsh Scam, was tabled in the Assembly, a Thane-based placement consultant was making similar contentions before the Bombay High Court.
Thane resident Pravin Wategaonkar was a common man with common aspirations. There seemed to be nothing more in life than sustenance and the routine grind of work and home. However, in 2010 the Adarsh Housing Society scam changed all that.
“I felt angry and did not want to let go of the anger. There have been several other scams which shook public faith in politicians, but Adarsh Housing Society scam was the trigger for me,” says 42-year-old Wategaonkar.
Wategaonkar has been credited with taking legal action in the case to the next level by widening the scope of prosecution through his Public Interest Litigation. Prior to his intervention, Adarsh scam charges were limited to grabbing of government land by politicians and bureaucrats and constructing a building for their gains. Thanks to Wategaonkar, the scope was widened to include the Money Laundering Act, making the income tax department pursue cases against the accused for not declaring the amount paid to Adarsh society in their returns.
A placement consultant with an MBA degree from Jamnalal Bajaj institute, Wategaonkar had no footing in the field of law. However, armed with determination he set foot inside a court room for the first time in a high-profile case to argue in person. “I am not a lawyer. I researched on the Adarsh case and had a clear idea of what prayer should be made,” he says.
His courage was rewarded as his first breakthrough came in the first hearing itself. At his first hearing in June 2011, his PIL was listed at number 16 whereas the cases related to Adarsh were listed at 8. He was in a dilemma whether to bring it to the notice of the court or quietly wait for his turn. Adjournment was being sought in other Adarsh cases. Just when the judges were about to wind up with the case on a particular hearing, Wategaonkar raised his hand and sought permission to speak. He brought to the notice of the court that his PIL was connected with the Adarsh cases. The court wanted to know what his prayers were. All he said was, “Invoking the Money Laundering Act in the Adarsh case.” The court then directed the Enforcement Directorate to file its say and the matter was adjourned to the next day.
“I did not understand the impact of the court’s direction until lawyers congratulated me on my PIL being a success. That was the big turning point for me,” he says.
Since then Wategoankar has been bringing several anomalies to the notice of the court. Initially he had expected his PIL to wind up in just two to three hearings. “I never expected that the PIL would last for so long. Whatever tangible action has been taken in the Adarsh case, it has happened due to the directions of the court.”
It was because of his efforts that the CBI handed over information collected from Adarsh society about the details of payments made by the members for purchase of flats. It was based on this information that he has now filed private criminal complaint in the Thane court against MLA Jitendra Awhad, the present NCP executive president, for not divulging information about owing a flat in Adarsh society in the election affidavit filed in 2009. The court has asked police to investigate and file a report.
Wategaonkar’s activism has its root in Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarti Parishad, the student wing of the BJP. “At ABVP, we learned the concept of ‘healthy disrespect’, which means never to be intimated by the status of the person and at the same time not being rude towards such persons. This is why I did not feel intimidated when I filed a PIL in a case involving the mighty politicians of Maharashtra,” says Wategaonkar who is no longer active in ABVP or BJP for that matter. “I was cynical earlier but now I feel the triumph of democracy is that anybody can set the law into motion,” he says.