A deadline set by the law and censure from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis have failed to push the Anti-Corruption Bureau to file a charge sheet in the Balganga irrigation project scam.The anti-graft agency missed the 90-day time frame after registering a case in August 2015, leading to the accused walking out of jail on bail. Miffed at the lapse, the CM had in November ordered a high-level probe into the delay in filing the charge sheet.Seven months have gone past, but the charge sheet in the alleged anomalies in the 92-crore project still remains elusive. In its FIR, Thane ACB has named 11 people and arrested five, including Nissar Khatri of FA constructions, two officials and two others.Defence counsel Shailesh Sadekar said, “I see only two reasons for the delay. Either the ACB is ready with the charge sheet and awaiting approval from superiors or it is in a dilemma on whether to name the politicians quizzed in connection with the case or drop their names.” He claimed his clients have been wrongly implicated in the case.The case pertains to alleged malpractices in the construction of a dam on Balganga river in Pen, Raigad district, for which tenders had been floated by the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation in 2009. Following allegations of corruption, the state in December 2014 asked the ACB to conduct an inquiry.ACB sources rejected the charges of deliberate delay or a lackadaisical attitude in handling it. “Going through huge volume of documents pertaining to irrigation tenders and companies involved in the case is time consuming. The investigation and process to file a charge sheet is on and the department is committed to take the case to its logical end,” said an ACB official who didn’t wish to be identified.Thane-based activist Pravin Wategonkar, who had complained of large-scale irregularities in irrigation projects in Konkan region and blamed former water resource ministers Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare for the mess, said ACB was intentionally going slow. “The delay is only to favour the accused contractors.”During the 2014 winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis had ordered an ACB probe into the irrigation scam in Konkan region. Kalu, Shahi, Balganga, Kondhane and Chanera are among the projects that are under the ACB scanner.