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Vilasrao Deshmukh the former chief minister of Maharashtra has been indicted by the supreme court for instructing the police to not to take action against the money lender Gokulchand who was charged with charging a usurious interest of 10% per month. The money lender is the father of a Congress MLA. This is clearly abuse of power by the ex CM to favour the chosen few and protect the party image at the cost of fairness and good governance.
The ex chief minister has agreed before the SC of this misuse of power by him and the SC has rightly fined the Maharashtra government with Rs 10 lakh.
The question now is who will bear the burden of this fine . Why should the Maharashtra government bear this revenue loss from its budgetary resources. Since ministers under oath of the constitution must provide governance free of corruption and abuse of authority, any excess committed for personal or party’s gain must be paid for, by the minister from his personal resources.
The fine slapped by the SC for the abuse of authority by the former CM should be borne by the Ex CM and not by the Maharashtra government. Why should taxpayer’s money be appropriated in meeting the cost of fines for criminal excess of a minister.
The Maharashtra government should see to it that the concerned minister pays from his own resources ,this fine amount and spare the burden on the state exchequer. It will also send a strong message to all those who wield power to not to indulge in such abuse of authority.
The present Chief minister chosen for his clean image should act instantly to recover the fine amount from the Ex CM . Only swift punishments to the erring ministers will stem the rot in the system. SC has already directed the courts to fast tack all the corruption cases. The executive should be proactive too and punish the wrong doers in the ministry as soon as it senses something wrong, instead of waiting for the judiciary to give its verdict after protracted delay.
Every body is now well aware of the consequences of the inaction of the PM at the right time in 2G spectrum case against the erring minister Raja; a revenue loss estimated at 1.76 lakh Cr. Governments running already huge deficits cannot afford such huge leaks on revenues. All those in power, responsible for the loss to exchequer must be made to make good the loss, from their personal wealth & income, apart from the punishments they may have to undergo for the criminal wrong doing.
The present CM of Maharashtra must provide the lead in this direction and recover the fine from the ex CM for his own wrong doings and begin the act of saving the state from drifting into corruption and decadence that has set in with impunity of late.
