HC orders CBI probe into awarding of contracts without tender

The Gauhati High court today found there was admission of certain facts regarding Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki about granting contract to his kin without inviting tenders and directed CBI to register a case.
A division bench, of Chief Justice (Acting) K Sreedhar Rao and Justice P K Saikia, while abjudicating on a PIL against Tuki and others on the basis of a case filed by one Nabam Tagam, found that Tuki had abused his official position as a minister in awarding contracts to his wife, sister-in- law, brother and other relatives without calling tenders years back.
The same constituted distinct and different offences under Section 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, the Bench said.

The Court directed CBI to register a case and conduct an investigation against Tuki, besides Kendriya Vidyalay Sangathan, New Delhi, and the Director of Sports Council, Arunachal Pradesh, in this regard.
The Court also asked for lodging an FIR and submit the final report before the special court at Guwahati.
The HC issued the verdict after taking into consideration all the materials and records and particularly referring to a 2008 order passed by then Gauhati HC Chief Justice J Chelameswar and Justice I A Ansari on the issue.
The gist of the allegations made in the petition relate to granting of contracts for construction of low-cost houses for safai karmacharies at Itanagar and construction of staff quarters of Kendriya Vidyala in Rohtak.