The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday ordered the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe the Chaibasa district’s MNREGA scam. The scam involves Rs 28 crore loss to the state exchequer.
Jharkhand High Court division bench headed by High Court Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra ordered for the probe after hearing a PIL filed by a social worker, Matloob Imam. The Jharkhand High Court also directed the state government to provide copies of documents related to the investigation of the MNREGA scam case in Chaibasa, if sought by the ED.
Earlier, the court was told by the ED that in many cases, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has filed charge sheets in the case, but the state government is not providing the ED on demand for a copy of the charge sheet. , On which the court directed the government to provide the documents sought by the ED and said that if the ED wants, it can also get the certified copy of the charge sheet from the concerned court.
As many as 14 FIRs were registered since 2008 to 2011 in Chaibasa in the scam and the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the state has also probed the matter. The next hearing in the case will take place on September 31.
Alam had demanded a CBI probe into the MNREGA scam that took place in between 2008 to 2011 in Chaibasa when K Srinivasan was deputy commissioner.
According to him, the scam involves Rs 28 crore. He submitted through his lawyer Rajiv Kumar that as many as 14 FIRs were registered in this scam and later the ACB also probed the matter registering preliminary enquiry but no action was taken in the matter.
This is the second time a PIL in the matter has surfaced. Earlier, the court had disposed of the petition in 2013. In 2021, Alam filed it again demanding a CBI probe in the matter.
Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan and Advocate Piyush Chitresh appeared on behalf of the State Government. Advocate Rajeev Kumar appeared on behalf of the same applicant.
On behalf of the applicant, the court was told that in the financial year 2008-9, 2009-10, 2010-11, MNREGA scam of about Rs 28 crores took place in Chaibasa. Police had registered 14 FIRs regarding this in Chaibasa. Later ACB started investigation by registering an FIR in the matter, but no action has been taken. In the said three financial years in Chaibasa, advance amount was paid for MNREGA works but no work was done on the ground.
At that time the DC of Chaibasa was K Srinivasan. It may be mentioned that the applicant had filed a public interest litigation in the year 2013 regarding the investigation of MNREGA scam in Chaibasa, later the case was executed by the court. After this, by filing a PIL again in the year 2021, a CBI inquiry has been demanded on behalf of the applicant.