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HC notice to Chouhan govt on ‘Babas’ as ministers

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s hasty decision to grant Minister of State (MoS) status to five Hindu religious…

HC notice to Chouhan govt on ‘Babas’ as ministers

Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Photo: Facebook)

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s hasty decision to grant Minister of State (MoS) status to five Hindu religious leaders has become a legal complication too, as the MP High Court on Monday served a notice to the State Government over the matter.

The Indore Bench of the High Court has directed the state government to submit a reply in the court within three weeks. Questioning the grant of the MoS status to the five Babas, the High Court Bench has served the notice.

Adding to the CM’s troubles in the matter, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has also taken cognizance of a complaint filed with it on allegations of a huge scam in the so called ‘world record’ plantation of six crore saplings across the Narmada River during MP CM Chouhan’s ‘Narmada Sewa Yatra’ of 2017.

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The complaint was filed by none other than ‘Computer Baba’, who is one of the five Godmen whom Chouhan has granted MoS status after inducting them into a committee set up for the conservation of the Narmada River.

According to sources, the PMO had lodged the registered complaint number ‘PMOPG/B/2018/0079156’ in the matter on 26 February 2018. The complaint was lodged by Computer Baba, who is associated with the ‘Sant Darshan Samiti’.

Computer Baba and Pandit Yogendra Mahant, who has also been accorded MoS status, had announced the launch of a ‘Narmada Ghotala Yatra’ from 1 April with an aim to expose the corruption in sapling plantation and to demand a ban on illegal sand mining of the Narmada River.

However, Chouhan made them ministers of state along with three other Babas including Bhaiyyu Maharaj, Baba Narmadanand and Baba Hariharanand on 31 March, just a day before the start of ‘Ghotala Yatra’.

Immediately after that, Computer Baba and Pandit Yogendra Mahant cancelled their proposed ‘Ghotala Yatra’. Nonetheless, Computer Baba’s complaint, which he had lodged earlier, has now been taken into cognizance by the PMO.

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