Road repairs scam: Maha govt to check if MCOCA can be applied

Maharashtra government will seek legal opinion on whether action could be initiated under the stringent MCOCA against officers, contractors, consultants and third party auditors in the Mumbai road repairs scam, the state Assembly was informed here today.
Minister of State for Urban Development Ranjit Patil informed the Lower House that views of the law and judiciary department will be sought on whether action could be initiated under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against officers, contractors, consultants and third party auditors in the scam.
The minister was replying to a query by BJP's Ashish Shelar. Shelar said while contractors and officers have been arrested, the police machinery hasn't yet reached erring consultants and third party auditors.

Patil's statement came after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday suspended two executive engineers and initiated a departmental inquiry against four sub-engineers who were reportedly found to have colluded in assisting contractors indicted in the scam get bail by imposing and receiving fine after the registration of an FIR in the case.
Last week, the civic body had issued show-cause notices to six engineers seeking explanation for collecting fines from the contractors named in the Rs 352-crore road repairs scam.
The two executive engineers -- V V Achrekar and K H Yeerme -- from western suburbs were suspended on Tuesday and a departmental inquiry was ordered against all six engineers.

So far, police have arrested 25 people in all, including a contractor and two chief engineers, in connection with the scam.

Following an inquiry into the 34 roads, the BMC had registered an FIR with the police, which set up a special investigation team to probe the scam.
The civic body had named six contractors and two-third party auditors in the FIR.
The contractors are RPS Infraprojects, KR Construction, Jay Kumar, Relcon Infraprojects, RK Madhani and Mahavir Infrastructure.