CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against Golak Prasad Mohapatra, president of the Orissa Consumers’ Cooperative Federation Ltd (OCCF), in a long-pending Vigilance case dating back to 2010.
A single judge bench of Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra passed the order on February 25.
Golak had approached the high court seeking quashing of the FIR, charge sheet and ongoing proceedings pending before the 3rd additional sessions judge, Bhubaneswar. The case arose from a 2010 FIR alleging irregularities in distribution of subsidised linkage coal to MSMEs between 2008 and 2010.
Allegations included diversion of coal to the open market, appointment of a marketing agent through fake quotations and supply to non-existent units, allegedly causing a loss of around `25 lakh to the state.
The HC noted the extraordinary delay in investigation and trial. In its order, the bench observed that the alleged occurrence pertained to the period 2008-2010 and the FIR was initially lodged in 2010. The sanction to initiate prosecution against the petitioner was obtained from the Registrar Cooperative Societies, Bhubaneswar in 2011. Three years after the registration of FIR, the charge sheet was submitted in 2013. The charge was framed nine years later in 2022 which is also when the first witness on behalf of the prosecution was examined.
“As of August, 2025 only 13 out of the 38 charge-sheeted witnesses have been examined. This implies that the case has been lingering on for one and half decades at this point and is no close to being concluded.”
The court further held: “This Court is constrained to hold that the delay in the trial cannot be attributed to the Petitioner and that the same is, in fact, largely attributable to the prosecution.”