ACB seeks prosecution sanction against former Chief Administrator of HSVP
Geetanjali Gayatri
Chandigarh, May 15
In the Punjab and Haryana High court-monitored case of the re-allotment of a resumed plot for an educational institution in Gurugram, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Haryana, has sought prosecution sanction against a 1995-batch IAS officer. The sanction has to be granted by the office of the Haryana Chief Secretary.
Bureau showing its incompetence
The ACB stating that there is loss to HSVP is only incompetence and a dangerous trend of attaching criminality to officers discharging their official duties. The ACB, in its final report, had stated that no link was established between me and beneficiaries of my order. Now, they are indirectly inquiring me without seeking government’s approval under Section 17A. — D Suresh, then chief administrator of Haryana Shehri Vikas Parishad
According to information, the case pertains to the re-allotment of a 1.5-acre resumed school site in Gurugram at original rates when D Suresh was Chief Administrator, Haryana Shehri Vikas Parishad (HSVP). Sources said the ACB, based on investigation of private persons, had sought the permission to proceed against Suresh from the Chief Secretary.
Meanwhile, an interim order passed by the high court in the matter in April this year states that there seemed “a cartel involving those in high bureaucratic positions” with regard to this particular allotment and states that the issue “requires to be examined by this court” to ensure that the proceedings “are not given a cold burial”.
According to the interim order, a school was issued a provisional allotment letter for a 1.5-acre site in Gurugram. This allotment was revoked by the Estate Officer, Gurugram, in September 2013, after the allottee failed to fulfil the terms and conditions of the allotment as per rules. The appeal and revision by the allottee were dismissed in 2004 and 2008, respectively.
A separate application by the HSVP was disposed of in 2012 directing the CS to undertake an inquiry. The CS decided in favour of the school in August 2015 and directed the Estate Officer to allot 1-acre land instead of 1.5 acres and claim 9 per cent simple interest on all outstanding dues From January 1994, when the provisional allotment letter was first issued. The site was restored at the rates of 1994 in 2015.
The order observed that as a result of this allotment, the HSVP suffered a loss of Rs 25 crore, but the legal cell did not pursue the matter. Later, the allottee sought a site measuring 1.5 acres and filed a petition in court which, while disposing it of, issued directions that the matter by decided in three months. The revisional authority dismissed the claim in 2018.
However, in May 2019, the Chief Administrator, HSVP, passed a fresh order allotting 1.5 acres in favour of the school despite the government declining the same and the high court upholding it.
The order mentions that the ACB noticed numerous discrepancies and found that the signatures of the original allottee were forged. In a status report, the ACB highlighted that the allotment was made to persons who were not even original allottees and a private person, arrested in another case, named the IAS officer for favouring the school in lieu of gratification.
“I had passed a quasi-judicial order on the directions of the high court and passed it as per my wisdom. My order is sub-judice in the HC. When an order isn’t yet implemented, besides also being appealable, how can there be loss to the government on account of my orders as is being made up by the ACB,” D Suresh said.
