DVAC told to file status in four weeks
CHENNAI: The State government has already started making good the loss incurred on account of purchase of bitumen, Advocate-General Vijay Narayan told a division bench of the Madras High Court on Friday.
When arguments on a PIL from G Balaji, an RTI activist, resumed, the AG filed a counter denying the charges levelled by the petitioner.
He told a bench of justices M M Sundresh and M Sundar that the government had already started recovering the difference amounts from the contractors and as on August 31 last, over `431 crore had been collected. Officials of the Highways department were not involved in any criminal activity, including collusion with contractors, as alleged by the petitioner, he added.
The bench, however, wondered as to how the government can file such a counter when occurrence of any criminal activity has to be probed and the truth ascertained by the investigating agency, which is DVAC in this case.
“The State is a neutral body. It is for the probing agency to come to a conclusion whether there had been commission of any criminal act or not. How can the government file such an affidavit ruling out criminal activity by officials,” the bench said.
Finally, the bench directed DVAC to file within four weeks, a report on the status of investigation into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of bitumen.
The PIL prayed for a CBI probe into alleged irregularities amounting to a whopping `1,000 crore in the purchase of bitumen.
The product, which is the primary requirement for road construction, has become a primary source for officials of State Highways department to siphon off over `1,000 crore of public funds from the government’s coffers, Balaji alleged.
He had also alleged that officials of the State Highways department in collusion with contractors “cashed out” `800 crore to `1,000 crore from 2014-16 in the guise of procuring bitumen for road laying and maintenance work.