IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION No. 10796 of 2009 For Approval and Signature:
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE A.L.DAVE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA ========================================================= ALL INDIA ANTI CORRUPTION & HUMAN RIGHT COUNCIL -
Petitioner(s) Versus DISTRICT COLLECTOR & 8 - Respondent(s) ========================================================= Appearance :
MR JV JAPEE for Petitioner(s) : 1,MS GAYATRI B JADEJA for Petitioner(s) : 1, GOVERNMENT PLEADER for Respondent(s) : 1, 9, HL PATEL ADVOCATES for Respondent(s) : 2, MR SUNIL S JOSHI for Respondent(s) : 2, MR BD KARIA for Respondent(s) : 3, MS SURAMYA M PATHAK for Respondent(s) : 3, None for Respondent(s) : 4 - 8.
========================================================= CORAM : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE A.L.DAVE and HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA Date : 27/07/2012 CAV JUDGMENT (Per : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE J.B.PARDIWALA)
1. By way of this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, in the nature of Public Interest Litigation, the petitioner, a non governmental organization engaged in detecting cases of corruption, injustice and illegal activities in the society, has prayed for the following reliefs:
(A) Be pleased to issue appropriate writ, order or direction directing respondent nos. 8 and 9 i.e. Secretaries of Home Department and Revenue department to inquire into the financial scam running into crores of rupees, in awarding financial relief to the riot affected victims of Khanpur Taluka, District Panchmahal pursuance to the post Godhara communal riots through appropriate independent agency and be further pleased to direct them to take appropriate criminal action and also departmental action against the concerned officers of Taluka Panchayat and Gram Panchayat responsible for sanction and and disbursement of cheques of financial assistance and also ineligible claimants who have wrongly derived illegitimate financial assistance in collusion with the said officers.
(B) Be pleased to issue a writ or mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing respondent nos. 8 and 9 to initiate action for recovery of financial relief wrongly given to ineligible persons from the concerned officers responsible for payment of financial assistance and also the concerned claimants who have received illegitimate financial benefits in collusion with the said officers:
( C) Be pleased to direct the respondent nos. 8 and 9 to initiate appropriate inquiry into financial malpractices in awarding financial assistance to riot affected victims of Khanpur Taluka, District Panchamahal and place a report of the same before this Hon'ble Court, pending the admission, hearing and final disposal of this petition;
(D ) Be pleased to pass such other and further order as the nature and circumstances of the case may be required.
2. The case made out by the petitioner in this petition may be summarized thus :
2.1. The petitioner has sought appropriate direction against the concerned authorities to inquire into large scale financial malpractices running into crores of rupeees committed by the concerned officers of Panchayat in collusion with the claimants in granting financial assistance to the riot affected victims of Post Godhara communal riots for Khanpur Taluka, District-Panchmahal for damage and/or destruction of their residential houses in the said communal riots. The petitioner has also prayed for appropriate action against all those who have received illegitimate benefits out of the said relief package and other ancillary reliefs.
2.2. The case of the petitioner is that pursuant to the Godhra Train incident which had taken place in the year 2002, large scale communal violence had erupted and spread like a wild fire all over the Gujarat. Certain villages of panchamahal Taluka were worst hit by communal frenzy which resulted into large scale destruction of life and property of the innocent citizens.
2.3. On the basis of survey conducted by Talati-cum-Mantris of the respective villages of Khanpur Taluka viz. Naroda, Pandarwada, Limbadiya and Khanpur and the certificates prepared by them regarding destruction of properties of riot victims, initially ad-hoc financial assistance was paid and thereafter, pursuance to the special relief package declared by the Central Government, additional financial assistance which is 9 times the original amount paid, was given in the year 2009.
2.4. As per the certificates given by the concerned Talti-cum-Mantris, total riot affected victims who sere eligible for the assistance for Khanpur Taluka were 325 but in the year 2009, when the Special Relief Package is given by the Central Government, the total cases for Khanpur Taluka are shown as 346 and accordingly, 21 more persons are given financial assistance.
2.5. From the details gathered by the petitioner under Right to Information Act and also from his personal inquiry, the petitioner has found that there is a big financial financial scam in granting financial assistance to the riot affected victims.
2.6. As per the inquiry made by the petitioner and details collected by him, there are about 125 cases in which the financial assistance is wrongly awarded to the ineligible or non-existent persons.
2.7. There is a large scale misappropriation and corruption in disbursement of financial assistance. The concerned authorities who were authorized to sanction and disburse the amount and also concerned Talati-cum-Mantris who had issued certificates in collusion with claimants, siphoned off huge amount of public money running into crores of rupees which has gone to the pocket of corrupt officers and non-deserving/in-eligible claimants.
2.8. The concerned Talati-cum-Mantri of Pandarvada Gram Panchayat in collusion with concerned officers of Taluka Panchayat issued false certificates and thereby about Rs. 1.5 Crores are misappropriate by way of collusion between claimants and the concerned Talati-cum-Mantris and the officers of Taluka Panchayat.
2.9. In Pandarvada Village of Khanpur Taluka, number of affected person who are given financial assistance is 252, whereas during the communal riots in the year 2002, there were hardly 125 houses of minority community.
2.10. One Kharadi Gulam Gani and his wife Jebun Gulam Gani of Pandarwada have received RAPD covers containing cheques issued to 27 persons, worth Rs. 92,12,700/-. (RPAD slips are annexed) Though the cheques were required to be deposited in Nationalized Bank, but instead, such cheques are discounted in private firms by giving huge commission. The officers of postal department are also responsible for delivery of envelopes containing the cheques without proper scrutiny.
2.11. In some of the case, financial assistance is given to fictitious persons who were neither residing nor existing in the respective villages of Khanpur Taluka and thereby, misappropriation of about Rs. 3 Crores is committed by claimants in collusion with concerned Talati-cum-Mantris and officers of the Taluka Panchayat.
2.12. In the Village Naroda of Khanpur Taluka, some persons residing in the same house, had taken separate financial assistance although all of them collectively were entitled to only single financial assistance.
2.13. A single person of Naroda is given financial assistance twice.
2.14. In the aforesaid manner, the financial assistance is wrongly given in about 125 cases to ineligible or fictitious persons and thereby huge amount running into crores of rupees of public money has been systematically siphoned off.
2.15. The concerned Talati-cum Mantris of village have issued false certificates of damage and destruction of houses and on that basis concerned officers of Taluka Panchayat had sanctioned and disbursed the amounts. The concerned Talati-cum-Mantris, officers of Taluka Panchayat and the claimants have joined their hand to siphon off huge amount running into crores of rupees from public exchequer.
2.16. Many deserving persons who have not obliged the concerned officers are not given proper and sufficient financial assistance, even though their residential houses were completely destroyed.
2.17. On the other hand, many undeserving and ineligible persons who have joined hands with the concerned officers have received handsome amount of financial assistance which has frustrated the very purpose and object of giving such financial assistance.
2.18. Though the petitioner has made representations to various authorities, no action has been taken in pursuance of the representations made by the petitioner. No inquiry is made into the serious allegations of financial malpractices in awarding financial assistant to the riot affected victims of Khanpur Taluka. It appears that a conscious attempt is made to cover up and shield subordinate officers.
2.19. The total scam can be roughly estimated at Rs. 6 to 7 Crores. This is only a tip of an ice burg. If inquiry is made on a broader scale, then possibility cannot be ruled out that in other parts of Gujarat State also, such financial malpractices in awarding relief to the riot victims is discovered.
2.20. Considering the gravity and seriousness of the allegations, an independent inquiry is required at a high level to unearth and deal with this financial scam.
Therefore, the respondent nos. 8 and 9 i.e. the Secretaries of Home Department and Revenue Department deserve to be directed to entrust inquiry to appropriate agency to effectively deal with the financial scam of such a magnitude and initiate criminal and departmental action against the persons involved and also take steps to recover the amount siphoned off by such persons.
3. Notice was issued on the respondents and in response to the notice the respondents have appeared by filing their affidavits in reply.
4. It appears that this matter was heard at length from time to time and finally by way of additional affidavits in reply filed on behalf of the respondent no. 2 pursuant to our order dated 15th June 2010, it was brought to our notice that 14 different officials have been prima-facie found to have indulged in illegal activities in disbursing the Government aid meant for riot affected victims. It was also brought to our notice that out of 14 persons identified, 12 employees are of Panchmahal district who are prima-facie found responsible for the embezzlement of government aid meant for affected persons. Accordingly, a First Information Report was registered at Bakor Police Station against such 14 persons vide CR I-46/2010 dated 10.07.2010 for the offences punishable under Sections 406,420,465,467,477A, 468,471 and 120B of IPC.
5. It was also brought to our notice that 15 Panchayat employees (past as well as present) have been served with show cause notice and departmental proceedings have been initiated.
6. From the aforesaid it could be said that the concerned respondents have taken appropriate steps against the persons responsible for various illegalities and irregularities in connection with the grant of financial aid to the riot affected victims of post Godhara communal riots .
7. We are satisfied with the steps which have been taken in this regard.
Under the circumstances, it is now not necessary to monitor the progress of the proceedings initiated by the authorities concerned against the erring officials. We may only say that the respondents shall ensure that the departmental proceedings which have been initiated against the concerned erring officials be completed at the earliest, and preferably within six months from today, if yet not completed.
8. The criminal court concerned, who is in charge of the trial arising from CR-I 46/2010, registered with Bakor Police Station dated 10.07.2010, shall complete the trial at the earliest and preferably by 31st May 2013.
9. With the above observations and directions we close this Public Interest Litigation. The petition stands disposed of accordingly.
( A.L.DAVE, J.) ( J.B.PARDIWALA,J. ) deepak