‘Corruption is like snake in systems’

POND SCAM

‘Corruption is like snake in systems’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:

13.02.2021 

The Gujarat high court has made scathing remarks about the corrupt practices by bureaucrats and termed corruption “a termite and a poisonous snake which has penetrated deeply into our systems”.

The observation about corrupt practices has come from Justice R M Sareen while refusing legal protection against possible arrest of an assistant director of Gujarat State Land Development Nigam Ltd, Ramendrainh Kushvah, in connection with the alleged Khet Talavadi scheme (farm ponds) scam. The judge echoed the observations made earlier by Justice Bela Trivedi while describing the role of the government officials in this scam.

On Thursday, Justice Sareen said, “It cannot be gainsaid that corruption has become a social menace and is very much rampant nowadays. It is like a termite or a poisonous snake which has penetrated deeply into our systems. It is often quoted that the public servants are like fish in the water, none can say when and how a fish drank the water.”

Kushvah was booked by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) last year in Godhra for an alleged scam in the farm pond scheme. He was posted in Shahera town then. The Prevention of Corruption Act was invoked against him on the ground that there is rise in Kushvah’s income to an extent of 62.68% as compared to the sources of his official income.

Kushvah told the court that some of the contractors were politically connected and he had been falsely accused under political pressure.

The court rejected the bail and said, “Considering his designation, there are all likelihood of petitioner having misused his official position by involving himself in purchase of immovable property. The importance of custodial interrogation in such nature of accusation becomes more necessary for verifying the actual nature of transaction.”