DF Govt extends term of SIT on irrigation scam, again
* The
committee headed by Dr Madhavrao Chitaley, which was to submit its
report by December 31, 2013; has been given extension of two months
* Main Opposition party BJP warns of rejecting the report and going to
court if SIT does not incorporate ‘clinching evidence’ provided by it to
the panel
By Kartik Lokhande
That the Democratic Front (DF)
Government is shy in disclosing the contents of reports of various
probe committees was demonstrated recently in case of judicial panel’s
report on Adarsh scam. However, it is shying away on yet another report
by a special inquiry team (SIT) constituted to probe into multi-crore
irrigation scam. The Government has given a second extension to the
panel headed by eminent water expert Dr Madhavrao Chitaley.
Following the pressure mounted by the media and the Opposition parties,
after ‘The Hitavada’ expose of multi-crore irrigation scam in May 2012,
the DF Government had constituted SIT in December 2012 and had issued
‘toothless’ terms of reference (ToR) to the panel on midnight of
December 31, 2012. ‘The Hitavada’ had exposed unholy nexus of
contractors-officials-politicians in the all-party loot of funds
meant for irrigation development in rainfed region of Vidarbha. The SIT
was supposed to complete the inquiry and submit its report by June 2013.
However, just a day before the expiry of deadline, the Government gave
extension of six months to the panel.
The team headed by water expert Dr Madhavrao Chitaley comprises former
Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) A K D Jadhav, former Irrigation
Secretary V M Ranade, and former Agriculture Commissioner Krishna
Lavhekar. By granting extension till December 31, 2013; the Government
had avoided discussion on the SIT report during winter session of State
Legislature held in Nagpur. However, on December 31, the Government
granted yet another extension to the panel.
“We had sought an extension of two months from the Government to
complete the assigned task as we wanted to study documents provided by
the Opposition parties and some private individuals. Today, the
Government has granted us the extension,” SIT chief Dr Madhavrao
Chitaley told ‘The Hitavada’. According to him, there were ‘certain
aspects’ that needed a deeper scrutiny of documents and hence more time
was sought. Asked about these aspects, he said that those would be
revealed in the report. On how many irrigation projects in Vidarbha did
the SIT visit, Dr Chitaley said that everything would come out in the
report to be submitted to the Government in two months.
Commenting on the extension, BJP’s Maharashtra unit chief and MLA
Devendra Fadnavis said that his party had given ‘clinching evidence’ and
‘substantive documents’ to the SIT. “Our documents are substantive and
they do not require much scrutiny. Still, if the panel has sought more
time to go through our documents, it should be granted the same.
However, the Government should not give another extension to the SIT
beyond this,” he said. He told ‘The Hitavada’ that if SIT did not
incorporate the contents of documents provided by the main Opposition
party, BJP would reject the panel’s report and go to the court. It may
be recalled here that Fadnavis and Leader of Opposition (Legislative
Council) Vinod Tawde had submitted a bulk of documents to the probe
panel earlier this year.
With the latest extension, the DF Government appears to have grabbed the
opportunity of the report and its contents getting drowned in the tide
of political developments ahead of ensuing Lok Sabha poll. The latest
extension granted to the SIT expires on February 28, 2014. In February,
Model Code of Conduct for ensuing Lok Sabha election is likely to come
into force. As a result, budget session of State Legislature is
commencing from February 24, 2014. “Model Code of Conduct does not
affect tabling of the probe report if the Government wishes to do so,”
said Fadnavis.
Now, it remains to be seen if the SIT submits its report to the
Government by the end of February 2014, and if the latter tables it in
State Legislature during advanced budget session. In the recently
concluded winter session, the DF Government had tabled report of
judicial commission constituted to probe Adarsh scam, on the last day of
session and had rejected it in the cabinet meeting held earlier in the
day. Whether SIT report on multi-crore irrigation scam also meets the
same fate, will be interesting to watch.
Developments so far
* Despite pressure mounted by the Opposition
parties, DF Government constitutes ‘special inquiry team’ and not a
panel under Commission of Enquiry Act to probe irrigation scam involving
names of influential contractors, contractors-turned-politicians,
officers closer to ministers, and also the name of Ajit Pawar, Deputy
Chief Minister and the then Water Resources Minister.
* Water Resources Department issued Terms of Reference (ToR) on midnight
of December 31, 2012; reducing the SIT to any other expert panel
without powers to punish the corrupt. The angles of criminal conspiracy,
rampant corruption, unholy nexus of contractors-bureaucrats-politicians in siphoning of funds meant for irrigation development of Vidarbha region were left out of the scope of inquiry.
* SIT chief Dr Madhavrao Chitaley’s statement that it was not empowered
to accept documents from ‘non-officials’ attracted criticism from the
Opposition. Responding to a letter by Leader of Opposition (Council)
Vinod Tawde, Dr Chitaley had stated that SIT was not empowered to
conduct any investigations against the officers in irrigation scam.
* A day before expiry of six months’ deadline, in June 2013, the
Government extends term of the SIT till December 31, 2013. “As the task
of visiting some projects for site inspection is proposed after
examination of documents pertaining to irrigation projects, the panel
has sought an extension,” stated a communication signed by Deputy
Secretary (WRD) S D Kulkarni.
* WRD grants another extension to the SIT till February 28, 2014, vide a
communication issued on December 31, 2013. The communication signed by
Principal Secretary (WRD) Eknath Patil states, “Extension has been
sought by the panel to go through submissions received from
non-officials and hence it is being granted.”
(Published in The Hitavada CityLine on january 1, 2014)
Comments
Post a Comment