SRA fraud: HC tells govt to select top 10 complaints for probe by panel
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to pinpoint 10 of the major complaints, from among 186, regarding fraud in Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) schemes that will be probed by a retired IAS officer.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice H L Gokhale and Justice V M Kanade, while hearing a public interest litigation filed by RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi, agreed with the government’s decision to appoint former additional chief secretary B K Agarwal to inquire into 10 major cases lodged with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
The division bench, while posting the case till March 7, also directed a senior police officer to assist Agarwal during the inquiry.
Last month, Gandhi had filed the PIL seeking constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) under the ACB to probe fraud in SRA schemes.
He had told the court that the number of complaints lodged with the ACB related to SRA scams have gone up to 170 from 44 in October 2006. However, FIRs and investigations had been initiated in just three cases.
Sitaram Aghav, Under Secretary, housing department, yesterday filed an affidavit stating that government circulars and guidelines were already in place to deal with the allegations of corruption.
He also said the demand for an SIT was misconceived since each of these complaints were different and unrelated. The court has also clubbed another suo motu petition on misuse of slum rehabilitation scheme along with Gandhi’s PIL.
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