The Bengal Government suffered yet another blow with the Calcutta High Court on Monday ordering an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in distributing relief to the flood victims in Malda and Murshidabad district.
Hearing a petition the Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava on Monday ordered a probe to be conducted by Comptroller and Auditor General and directed the State Government to submit a report by February 14 stating the amount sanctioned for the flood relief and the amount spent for that purpose.
The Court has also said that while CAG will conduct the probe the central Government will keep an eye over it and the State Go9vernment will have to cooperate in the investigation.
A public interest litigation was filed in the Court in 2019 seeking an order directing investigation into a flood relief scam worth crores in Malda and Murshidabad district of the State. Thousands of people had been affected in the flood that hit these two districts in 2017.
Subsequently the Government announced Rs 70,000 for those affected in the flood. A large part of the amount was to come from the central Government.
However, the opposition BJP and Left complained of large-scale irregularities in distributing relief. “Crores of rupees were paid to unaffected people mostly belonging to the ruling Trinamool Congress while hundreds of those who were affected by the flood received nothing,” said CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakrabarty.
A P:IL was filed in the High Court in 2019 post which the thenAdvocate General conceded before the Court that there indeed had been irregularities adding the guilty people had been showcaused and they had been asked to return the amount. However the Court reprimanded the Government wondering whether issuing showcause notices and asking return of the misappropriated money was enough. The Court also asked as to why no FIR was registered against the guilty.
Senior TMC leaders later said that the corruption had taken place at the level of some village pradhans --- a contention that was summarily rejected by the opposition which demanded action against the culprits.