All the 15 accused named by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board in a criminal case it filed against Lavasa Corporation were issued process by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (Pune), Mr N.T. Ghadge, on Thursday.
In the order, all accused — including non-executive directors Ms Anuradha Desai, Mr Aniruddha Deshpande, Mr Gautam Thapar and Mr Vithal Maniyar — have been directed to appear in the Pune Court on January 30 and obtain bail. If they do not, they could be jailed, a legal expert who did not wish to be named said. The police will start serving summons to the accused over the next two months.
Mr Ajit Gulabchand, the Chairman and Managing Director of Lavasa, however, may not need to appear in the Court as he has not been named independently. “He has only been named as a representative of Lavasa Corporation, and any employee can represent Lavasa,” the expert said.
The board had filed the criminal case in the Pune Court on November 4 following a directive from the Bombay High Court to the Maharashtra Government to take credible action Lavasa that is building a hill city near Pune.