Court slams govt for revoking sanction to prosecute PCS officer in Rs 500cr land scam

Dehradun: In a case involving U'khand PCS officer Dinesh Pratap Singh and others charged with corruption in the NH-74 road widening project in Udham Singh Nagar district, the special court (Prevention of Corruption Act) of additional district judge Neelam Ratra at Haldwani expressed strong disapproval while rejecting an application filed through the district magistrate (DM) of US Nagar.The state govt had emphasised in the application that the prosecution sanction against the officer had been revoked.
Singh is accused of embezzling a substantial amount of public funds, totaling Rs 500 crore, intended as compensation for land acquisition for the NH-74 road widening project. He was booked under various sections of the IPC in March 2017 for his alleged involvement in the misappropriation of funds. The PCS officer is also alleged to have engaged in money laundering, and a charge sheet has been submitted to the court, with six witnesses already examined.
"If the accused was dissatisfied with the trial, he should have approached the high court, but the state's argument that he has been exonerated in disciplinary action is not sufficient grounds to annul the prosecution sanction against him," the court said.
The court added, "It appears the entire apparatus of the state and district administration have been resolute in their efforts to exculpate the accused officer by issuing orders in an arbitrary fashion, despite the fact that neither the govt possesses the authority to quash the prosecution sanction, nor does the DM have any right to expunge all criminal proceedings and declare him innocent and submit such an application in his favour".
Regarding the state's argument of giving the accused a clean chit after the disciplinary inquiry, the court said that since such an inquiry is conducted by officials within the department, there is a high possibility of the accused influencing the investigating officers. The court further stressed that the inquiry report was "not credible", as it appeared to be "superficial".
The court said that the accused, being a senior officer and holding an important post, was given a clean chit in the departmental inquiry even after being released on bail, which was "surprising". The court also cited section 19 of the PC Act, which does not allow the cancellation of prosecution sanction in corruption cases. "The DM of US Nagar appears to be pleading for the accused by filing an application for discharge while the accused himself never filed any such application. Therefore, this court finds no merit in the argument that the accused should be discharged on the basis of departmental inquiry," the court said and dismissed the application.