PANAJI
At a time when Opposition leader and Congress MLA Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar has been embroiled in a case, another Congress leader can breathe easy.
The governor has disposed off a disqualification petition filed by Shirish Kamat against Margao MLA and former chief minister Digambar Kamat, following an opinion by the Election Commission.
Shirish had alleged that Digambar Kamat had supported the company of a relative when he was chief minister.
In his disqualification petition, Shirish claimed that Kamat had started a company ‘Bharat Construction, Engineers and Builders' in 1980 and in 1982 and registered it in Goa.
At the start, Kamat's brother Gurudas Kamat, Kiran Naik, Vinod Naik and Santosh Naik were shareholders in the company.
Later, some changes were made to the shareholders' list. In 1989, Kiran Naik and Asha Kamat were shareholders, while Kiran Naik and Digambar Kamat were shareholders in 1993, Kiran Naik and Asha Kamat were shareholders in 1996 and Kiran Naik and Satish Lawande were the shareholders in the company in 2005.
In 2013, Yogiraj Digambar Kamat and Satish Lawande were appointed as directors of the company, which bagged contracts from PWD, WRD and other departments.
Shirish Kamat claimed that when Digambar Kamat was chief minister, he allotted government works to the company and the petitioner had demanded his disqualification.
On going through documents submitted by the petitioner, the governor referred the matter to the Chief Election Commissioner A K Jyothi, who submitted the commission's views in the matter.
In her order, the governor said Digambar Kamat was neither director nor shareholder in the company and hence he could not be disqualified under Section 1 (a) of 1951 act.
The governor had also included the opinions of A K Jyothi in the judgement and disposed off the petition.
At a time when Opposition leader and Congress MLA Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar has been embroiled in a case, another Congress leader can breathe easy.
The governor has disposed off a disqualification petition filed by Shirish Kamat against Margao MLA and former chief minister Digambar Kamat, following an opinion by the Election Commission.
Shirish had alleged that Digambar Kamat had supported the company of a relative when he was chief minister.
In his disqualification petition, Shirish claimed that Kamat had started a company ‘Bharat Construction, Engineers and Builders' in 1980 and in 1982 and registered it in Goa.
At the start, Kamat's brother Gurudas Kamat, Kiran Naik, Vinod Naik and Santosh Naik were shareholders in the company.
Later, some changes were made to the shareholders' list. In 1989, Kiran Naik and Asha Kamat were shareholders, while Kiran Naik and Digambar Kamat were shareholders in 1993, Kiran Naik and Asha Kamat were shareholders in 1996 and Kiran Naik and Satish Lawande were the shareholders in the company in 2005.
In 2013, Yogiraj Digambar Kamat and Satish Lawande were appointed as directors of the company, which bagged contracts from PWD, WRD and other departments.
Shirish Kamat claimed that when Digambar Kamat was chief minister, he allotted government works to the company and the petitioner had demanded his disqualification.
On going through documents submitted by the petitioner, the governor referred the matter to the Chief Election Commissioner A K Jyothi, who submitted the commission's views in the matter.
In her order, the governor said Digambar Kamat was neither director nor shareholder in the company and hence he could not be disqualified under Section 1 (a) of 1951 act.
The governor had also included the opinions of A K Jyothi in the judgement and disposed off the petition.
