Jharkhand HC refuses to dispose of SS fund case

The Jharkhand High Court has refused to dispose of the case pertaining to the alleged misappropriation of Secret Service Fund of Jharkhand police amounting to over Rs 8 crore.

While hearing a PIL filed by advocate Ram Subhag Singh, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Gyan Sudha Misra and Justice RR Prasad observed, “The government’s insistence on disposing off the matter shows that all is not well.”

The court asked the Jharkhand chief secretary to verify the utilisation report furnished by V D Ram, former director general of police, and take action if the report had not met the rules.

The PIL mentioned that the Accountant General, Jharkhand, had expressed possibility of fraud and misappropriation, particularly since sums of Rs 5.60 crore and Rs 2.50 crore were withdrawn in 2005-06 and 2007-08 by V D Ram and Rajiv Kumar, additional director general of police (special branch) respectively.

The PIL mentioned that the AG on June 17, 2009 wrote to the chief secretary regarding non observance of financial rules by the V D Ram in dealing with the Secret Service Fund and requested to take action as he suspected fraud and misappropriation of funds.

The funds were withdrawn at the fag end of the year when spendng the same was not possible to subserve the purpose.

The PIL expressed concern over the safety of the citizens as the sate was affected by Naxal terrorism and the secret service fund was mainly utilised to gather information about terrorist movement.

"It is very much the need of the hour to find out whether the secret service fund withdrawn, so far, has really been utilised for the purpose meant for," the PIL said.