U'khand Govt. recommends judicial probe on horse trading, sting ops

The Uttarakhand Government has decided to constitute a judicial committee to look into various issues, including incidents unfolding after March 17-18 such as horse trading, misuse of agencies and sting operation among others.

"When these matters were raised in the Cabinet, it was decided that the solution to all these problems was a judicial probe. Thus, we have decided to form a judicial panel headed by a retired high court judge to carry out a time-bound probe," Chief Minister Harish Rawat told reporters after emerging from the Cabinet meeting here on Friday.

"The state government has its own opinion, while the Centre is taking a different stand. Besides, the misuse of agencies, horse-trading and sting operation also figured. We are alleging that a conspiracy was hatched to topple the state government. There are some call details and many other issues as well," said Rawat.

Justifying the Cabinet's decision, Rawat said it is in the wider interest of the state that this matter be handed over to a judicial commission.

"They will say what they want to and we will say what we feel. Whatever the result comes, the people will take a call, because the people of the state are the ultimate master," he said, adding both the ruling party and opposition should concentrate on people's welfare.

Saying they believed that land was behind all problems in Uttarakhand, Rawat said, "We have constituted a committee comprising Yashpal Arya, Dinesh Aggrawal and Dinesh Dhanai to look into all land allotments since 2000, especially into the allotments made to active politicians. They will submit their report to the state cabinet for further consideration."

"Besides, we have also decided to handover the ONIDA issue and the Sahajpur land scam to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or if needed so will constitute an SIT to look into these issues, which will be decided by the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP)," he added.