No relief for govt official accused in toilet scam

No relief for govt official accused in toilet scam 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 04.10.2024 

Ahmedabad : The Gujarat high court has refused to drop corruption charges against a govt officer who approved bills without physically verifying construction work in an alleged toilet construction scam. The scam is said to have taken place under the Nirmal Gujarat Sauchalay Yojana in Okha town of Devbhumi Dwarka district. While rejecting the quashing petition by the then incharge chief officer of Okha municipality, the HC stated in its order, “Being the head of the department and a responsible officer, it is his duty to verify the actual status of the toilets and he should not have blindly trusted the reports submitted by the person concerned.” In this case, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had filed an FIR against various people in 2018, including the then in-charge chief officer of Okha municipality, Jayesh Patel, charging them with criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, forgery and corruption. 

The FIR was filed regarding an alleged fraud involving a govt scheme aimed at building toilets for the poor. According to the complaint, substantial funds were misappropriated through the approval of fraudulent bills, despite the promised toilets not being constructed in several locations. 

The chief officer approached the HC for quashing of the FIR, claiming innocence. He said he had merely signed the bills and reports submitted by the local voluntary organisations (LVOs) and his subordinates, relying on their trustworthiness, and that his signature was intended only to grant clearance. It was not his duty to physically verify the place, he said. However, the HC said that it was the officer’s duty to con duct the process of physical verification and then only sign the reports. “Not only that, the said report was without any photograph, which clearly goes on to show dereliction in discharge of his duty and/or his involvement in the commission of crime,” the HC order said. The chief officer also cited the delay in investigation as a ground for dropping the charges against him, stating that the chargesheet could not be filed after so many years.  The state govt argued that the investigator has been able to visit and draw panchnamas for only 334 of 4,032 toilets. Out of these, 27 toilets have not been constructed, and in some cases, only walls were erected, or partitions were fixed. The construction was not in accordance with the scheme. Refusing to interfere with the ongoing investigation, the HC said in its order, “Whole reading of FIR discloses ingredients of offence. The applicant has failed to point out that FIR is mala fide, frivolous or vexatious.”