IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT HYDERABD FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AND STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH TUESDAY THE EIGHTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND FOURTEEN PRESENT HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE S. RAVI KUMAR
CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 1323 OF 2012
Between:
B. Ch. Obuleshu … Petitioner/Accused V/s.
The State of Andhra Pradesh Represented by its Special Public Prosecutor for ACB & SPE Cases, High Court of Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad. … Respondent/Complainant Counsel for Petitioner : Sri N. Ravi Prasad Counsel for Respondent : Sri B. Timma Reddy Spl.PP for ACB & SPE Cases The court made the following : [order follows] HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE S. RAVI KUMAR
CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 1323 OF 2012
O R D E R :
This Criminal Petition is filed to quash FIR in Crime No. 8/RCO-KUR/2011, dated 22/8/2011 of Deputy Superintendent of Police, ACB, Kurnool Range, Kurnool district, for alleged offences under section 13 (1) [c] and 13 (1) (d) read with 13 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and section 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 477 read with section 34 IPC.
2. Heard both sides.
3. Sri N. Ravi Prasad, Advocate for petitioner submitted that petitioner herein is A-2 in the above referred crime and he is nothing to do with the alleged offences. He submitted that there is no participation of petitioner and role of petitioner is not specifically mentioned in the FIR or in the Enquiry Report of Executive Engineer, Adoni. He submitted that the main allegation is that accused misappropriated Government funds of ‘Indiramma Housing Programme’ in Phase-I at Pallidoddi village of Devanakonda Mandal, Kurnool district. He submitted that a total number of 622 houses sanctioned and out of which irregularities were noticed in respect of 323 houses and misappropriation to a tune of Rs.81,74,092=00 and the petitioner was Mandal Housing Officer from 29/10/2007 to 20/02/2009. He submitted that the scheme was introduced in the year 2006. He further submitted that District Collector, Kurnool ordered enquiry and Executive Engineer was the Enquiry Officer and he submitted a report and basing on the report, this FIR was registered and there is no role of petitioner.
4. Sri B. Timma Reddy, learned Special Public Prosecutor for ACB and SPE Cases submitted that report of Executive Engineer specifically reveal the role of petitioner and he is the Officer, who has certified construction from stage-to-stage and recommended for payment which is without verification and he is involved for misappropriation to a tune of Rs.11,49,120=00. He submitted that there is falsification of accounts and misappropriation of Government funds and the details of each individual’s role will come to light only during investigation and there is prima facie material for the offences alleged and this petition is liable to be dismissed.
5. As seen from the material papers filed alongwith this criminal petition and as per “Indiramma Housing Programme”, 622 houses were sanctioned and out of 622 houses, irregularities were noticed in respect of 323 houses and the category of irregularities namely; 13 benami houses, 225 houses are not traced houses, 21 old houses, 53 stage differences houses, 5 double payments, 5 double named and 1 triple named houses and the total amount of misappropriation involved is Rs.81,74,092=00. Executive Engineer, Adoni conducted detailed enquiry and submitted a report stating that there is involvement of two Tahsildars and the petitioner is one among them. Out of 12 accused, two are Tahsildars; two are Housing Deputy Executive Engineers, five Mandal Incharges/Assistant Engineers of A.P.S.H.C.L., and three are Outsourcing Work Inspectors. In the report, Executive Engineer, Adoni, specifically stated that petitioner was responsible for an amount of Rs.11,49,120=00 which he released to ineligible beneficiaries and this aspect has to be enquired and now at the stage of FIR its correctness cannot be decided. As rightly pointed out by learned Special Public Prosecutor, the report of Executive Engineer, Adoni and the FIR prima facie reveal that this petitioner released payments without proper verification. Whether this petitioner did it intentionally or other wise is a matter of investigation, and therefore, at this stage, correctness of allegations cannot be decided.
6. On a scrutiny of the material, I am of the view that there are absolutely no grounds to quash F.I.R. in Crime No. 8/RCO- KUR/2011, since public money is involved. A.C.B. Police shall expedite the investigation and file final report and the petitioner shall co-operate with the Investigating Officer.
7. With the above observation, this Criminal Petition is dismissed, as devoid of merits.
JUSTICE S. RAVI KUMAR .
08/07/2014
I s L
HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE S. RAVI KUMAR CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 1323 OF 2012 Circulation No. 94 Date: 08/07/2014 Court Master : I s L Computer No. 43