Hearing a public interest litigation seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the national highway 74-scam, the high court of Uttarakhand has directed the State Government to seek permission from the Centre regarding filing of case against IAS officer Pankaj Pandey and filing of chargesheet under Prevention of Corruption Act within two weeks and inform the court. During the hearing, the main accused in the scam said to be worth more than Rs 300 crore, the then special land acquisition officer DP Singh also demanded a CBI probe in the scam.
Udham Singh Nagar resident Mahendra Singh and others had filed the PIL in the high court stating that for the widening of the national highway 74, the category of agricultural land was changed in back date and more than 10 times the amount of compensation was handed out. The petitioners have sought a CBI investigation into this scam. They have also sought action against those guilty in this scam.
During hearing of the petition by the division bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice Alok Kumar Verma, the counsel for the State Government informed the court that permission is being sought from the Centre for filing of case and chargesheet against IAS officer and former Udham Singh Nagar district magistrate Pankaj Pandey.
However, the permission had not yet been received. The court then directed the State Government to secure necessary permission from the Centre within two weeks and inform the court about the same.