HC gives Mayawati clean chit in Taj corridor case

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has virtually got a clean chit in the once infamous Taj corridor affair, as the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court today dismissed all public interest litigations challenging the Uttar Pradesh governor's refusal to initiate the prosecution of the Bahujan Samaj Party chief.

As many as six PILs regarding the Rs17-crore scam had been bunched together. The high court bench of Justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and Ashwani Kumar Singh ruled that all six petitions seeking resumption of investigations of Mayawati and her cabinet colleague Naseemuddin Siddiqui were devoid of merit.

Earlier, Mayawati's counsel Satish Chandra Mishra had termed the petitions as ''politically motivated'' and pursued with ''malafide intention''.

After the court delivered the 74-page verdict, Mishra told newspersons that there were no offences against Mayawati in the Taj corridor case.

''The court passed its order purely on merit and it is not based on technical grounds. The court decided that an earlier decision which suspended the case against her remains valid,'' he said, adding that the PILs were politically motivated.

However, the petitioners have announced that they will challenge the Allahabad High Court order in the Supreme Court soon.