New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for interfering in the enforcement of law to regulate private money lending in the state.
"The chief minister has no business to interfere with the functioning of the 1946 act regulating money lending in the state," the apex court bench of Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly said in their judgement.
Dismissing the state's appeal, the court enforced a cost of Rs 10 lakh on the state government. The money will be deposited with the Maharashtra State Legal Service Authority to help poor litigants.
The former chief minister invited the apex court reprimand for preventing the administration and police from acting on the complaint of farmers against a relative of a Congress legislator Dilip Kumar Sananda, who was engaged in money lending activities.
IANS
First Published: Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 11:41