Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has issued notices to Maharashtra government, the Centre and Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) on a PIL alleging massive corruption in the execution of irrigation projects in Vidarbha region.
NGO Jan Manch has filed the PIL, alleging that 'politically influential' contractors executed substandard works, and siphoned off thousands of crores of rupees.
The PIL seeks a CBI probe, and also requests the HC to appoint a high-level committee headed by a retired judge of Supreme Court with an irrigation expert as a member to conduct "audit" of the projects, to assess the irrigation potential actually created.
This corruption is responsible for Vidarbha's irrigation backlog and agrarian crisis, it says. After a brief hearing on Friday, the division bench of Justices Pratap Hardas and M L Tahaliyani issued notices to state, Union Finance Ministry and VIDC, seeking replies in three weeks.
The High Court expressed a shock when petitioner's lawyer Anil Kilor pointed out that two inquiry reports clearly indicted officials and contractors for shoddy work, but no action was taken in the last two years.
Even CAG had rapped VIDC for excessive spending and unjustified cost escalation, he said, adding that the scam was to the tune of Rs 26,000 crore. The petition states that in the span of seven months in 2009, the cost of 38 irrigation projects of VIDC escalated by a whopping Rs 20,050.06 crore -- from Rs 6,672.27 crore to Rs 26,722.33 crore. Thirty of these projects got sanctions in just four days, it adds.
HC gives partial relief to insecticide Co
The Bombay High Court has partially set aside an order of Principal Secretary (Agriculture) of Maharashtra suspending the license of Krishi Rasayan Export in respect of insecticides traded by the company. Justice S C Dharmadhikari, in the ruling last week, upheld the order to the extent of suspending the license for insecticide Rs Ethephon' from June to December 2012. "It is not possible to brush aside the findings of the authorities in relation to Ethephon.... Authorities had material which denotes that the product could not have been utilized for the fruit-bearing trees," the judge said. "However, ultimate order suspending the license in regard to all products is beyond the show-cause notice....Therefore the order to that extent requires to be set aside." The court held that there was a substance in the argument that license to deal in all the 51 products could not have been suspended when the dispute was only about Ethephon. Rambhau Jagannath Dhavane, a farmer from Ahmednagar district, had used Ethephon 39 percent SL, also known as Kripon, on grape plants, but it damaged the crop. Acting on his complaint, the state authorities carried out inspection and concluded that this insecticide was not suitable for fruit-bearing trees. Government lawyer R M Patne argued that the order was valid, because company had failed to address grievances of the farmers and compensate them.