Sessions court confirms 2 years' jail for Maharashtra minister, brother

PUNE/NASHIK: Conviction over securing a flat under a 10% EWS quota in 1995 by showing lower income has put a question mark over Manikrao Kokate's continuation as an MLA and as a Maharashtra cabinet minister.

A Nashik sessions court upheld Tuesday a Feb 20 trial court judgment convicting and sentencing the sports minister and NCP functionary, along with his brother Vijay Kokate, to two years of rigorous imprisonment in the housing quota cheating case. The siblings had secured two flats. The court, however, set aside the trial court's direction to Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority and deputy collector to cancel the allotment of flats to the Kokate brothers and restore possession as earlier.

Kokate represents Sinnar in rural Nashik. The ruling triggers the risk of "immediate disqualification" under the Representation of the People Act for sentences of two years or more, unless a higher court stays the conviction.

Public prosecutor Sudhir Kotwal said the matter must now go to the high court. "Under the law, Kokate's disqualification is certain unless he gets a suspension of his sentence and a stay on his conviction from the high court. Even with urgent circulation, this may take eight to 10 days. There is no bar on disqualification in the intervening period," Kotwal said.

Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar said he had not yet received the order. Supreme Court ruling from 2013 states disqualification is immediate, despite a three-month window to appeal. Relief comes only if conviction itself is stayed.

Kokate's lawyer Avinash Bhide disagreed. "We have a month's time to secure a stay and suspension from the high court. Even after that, the matter goes before the speaker," Bhide said.

After the trial court ruling, Kokate had secured bail and on March 5, a sessions court stay on conviction and sentence during pendency of appeal. That protection has lapsed. "Once a sessions court confirms conviction in appeal, it has no power to grant bail. The matter goes to the high court," Kotwal said.

The prosecution said the brothers applied for flats under the EWS quota, declaring annual income of Rs 25,000 each, below the Rs 30,000 eligibility ceiling. "Allotment relied on affidavits. When falsity emerged, onus lay on the deponents to prove otherwise," Kotwal said. Prosecutors said Kokate failed to disclose improved finances even by 1995, citing documents showing supplies of 70 tonnes, 80 tonnes and 120 tonnes of sugarcane in 1993, 1994 and 1995 to the Kopargaon cooperative sugar mill, yielding substantial earnings. "This line weighed with the sessions court while affirming conviction and sentence," Kotwal said.

Opposition parties accused BJP-headed govt of double standards, citing the swift disqualification of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi after his 2023 defamation conviction and contrasting it with the continued tenure of Kokate. "Govt should immediately dismiss Kokate," Maharashtra Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal said. NCP state president Sunil Tatkare said the party would decide its next course of action after discussing the ruling with party chief and deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
Select The Times of India as your preferred source on Google Search