Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik on Thursday slammed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for ‘“obstructing the course of justice” in the Vedanta University land acquisition case and requested Governor SC Jamir to let “law take its own course” by issuing specific time-bound direction to the State Government for the State Vigilance to start a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) within a week and filing of an FIR within a month against erring officials in the land scam case.
The then lokpal late Justice PK Patra had in 2011 filed a special report in this case and the Governor had directed that the report be discussed in the State Assembly with an action-taken report of the Government. The Government placed the report in the Assembly with an explanation that no action could be taken since the matter was pending before the Supreme Court.
Once the Governor directed the Government to place the report in the Assembly, the Chief Minister as the “competent authority” under law should have facilitated full compliance of the law in letter and spirit.
But, firstly, the Chief Minister had to be reminded by the Governor several times to follow the law, and finally when the report was surreptitiously placed in the Assembly, the Government justified its abject inaction by a contrived argument that the matter was pending before the Supreme Court. “This argument is rather hollow,” argues Niranjan Patnaik in his letter to the Governor.
The issues before the apex court are very different from the specific direction of the lokpal, specifically the direction to initiate action against erring officials. The Supreme Court is not currently concerned with the issue of action against erring officials. The Government’s so-called compliance violates the Governor’s direction, alleged Patnaik.