Irrigation scam: PIL seeks IT assessment order on pvt firm

A PIL today requested Bombay High Court to ask a senior Income Tax official to produce an assessment order which shows that a private firm paid unexplained "overheads" of Rs 44 crore to unknown persons to facilitate building of Ghodzari Branch Canal in Vidarbha.
Activist Pravin Wategaonkar today filed the public interest litigation about the alleged Rs 70,000 crore scam in Maharashtra's irrigation projects.
Wategaonkar has requested the court to direct A S Marathe, Deputy Commissioner, Income Tax, Kolhapur, to produce the assessment order of December 2011 and other documents pertaining to Mahalaxmi Infra Projects.
Recently, activist Medha Patkar had alleged that a dam contractor bribed top political leaders in Maharashtra as well as irrigation officials for the Gosikhurd irrigation project in Vidarbha.

Patkar made the allegation based on Marathe's assessment order, which allegedly shows that the firm made payments to 'Dada', 'AP', 'GAD', 'SD' and 'MG'. Patkar said these referred to prominent leaders, both in government and in Opposition.
The IT order was prepared following a search at the residence of a technical director with Mahalaxmi Infraprojects in September 2009.
Meanwhile, the division bench of Justices P V Hardas and Revati Dere today recused itself from hearing of the PIL, as Justice Dere had represented the state in this case when she was a public prosecutor. The Chief Justice will now assign the PIL to another bench.