Wednesday, 19 July 2023 | PNS | NAINITAL
The Uttarakhand High Court has stated that a decision on whether the Central Bureau of Investigation of special investigation team should probe into the scam in the Horticulture department will be taken after hearing on August 9. The division bench of chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Rakesh Thapliyal said this while hearing on a public interest litigation seeking a probe by the CBI or another agency in the scam in the department. Earlier the court had asked the CBI whether an initial inquiry can be conducted on the points raised in the PIL.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the CBI informed the court that it had studied all the relevant files and that a case can be lodged in the matter. The counsel representing the government informed that the government had formed an SIT to probe the matter. The petitioner had objected to formation of the SIT to probe the case, stating that government officials are involved in the case and can influence the probe by the SIT which is also an agency of the government.
Deepak Kargeti had filed the PIL alleging a scam amounting to lakhs of rupees in the Horticulture department. Irregularities have been conducted in the plantation of fruit and other species as part of the scam in the department, he has contended. The PIL states that the department has shown issuing the work order and getting saplings from Jammu and Kashmir on the same day for which the payment was also made. It further claims that various financial and other irregularities have been commited in the matter which should be probed by the CBI or another impartial investigation agency.
