Funds for tribals misappropriated: PIL

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked the Tribal Welfare department to file its reply to the allegations by a petitioner who has alleged that the officials from the department have siphoned off nearly Rs 1,000 crore since 2010. The allegations are based on information received under Right To Information (RTI). The petitioner has said that officials have spent only a small portion of the funds and pocketed the remaining amount meant for various tribal welfare schemes in Nashik. The court expressed surprise at the revelations and asked the department to file a reply failing which it would ask the state tribal welfare department secretary to attend court.

A division bench of justices Naresh Patil and Nitin Sambre was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Munaf Tadvi, a member of the Adivasi Bachao Andolan, an NGO working for the uplitment of tribals living in and around Nashik. Advocate Swapnil Valave who appeared on behalf of the petitioner informed the court that Tadvi had stumbled upon the misappropriation when he had inquired about the use of Rs 1.25 crore that was meant for supplying power to some of the hamlets where the tribals lived.

He further said that the department had installed power lines in some hamlets but there was nothing of that sort. Mr Tadvi then filed RTI applications seeking information on how the funds received from the centre and state was spent. That is when he realised that nearly Rs 1000 cr funds meant for tribals had been misappropriated in 2010 and 2011 by the project officers and the tribal welfare department commissioner’s office.

After hearing the submissions, the court directed the project officer to submit a detailed report of the amount spent with details of projects and schemes where the funds were used. The bench further warned the officer to ensure that the reply against the allegations by the petitioner was filed by the next hearing failing which the secretary of the department would be called.