The Bombay high court on Tuesday asked a petitioner to deposit Rs 50,000 as security with the court registry and after that only the court would hear PIL filed by him seeking transfer of investigation
The Bombay high court on Tuesday asked a petitioner to deposit Rs 50,000 as security with the court registry and after that only the court would hear PIL filed by him seeking transfer of investigation into alleged road contract and de-silting scam from Mumbai police to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB).
The court asked the petitioner, Vivekanand Gupta, a lawyer and secretary of the Mumbai BJP, to deposit the amount by August 9, when the matter would come up for hearing again. The bench asked the petitioner to deposit the amount, because despite being member of the ruling party he chose to file PIL instead of approaching the government.
Mr Gupta has filed this petition claiming that there is a nexus between contractors and civic officials. The petition said there were waterlogging incidents in the city on July 19 and 20 last year, due to heavy rains following which the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner (BMC) had ordered an inquiry into the de-silting contract work.
According to the petitioner, the probe brought out an “unholy nexus” between contractors and civic officials. Subsequently, the civic commissioner ordered filing of FIR against contractors involved in the ‘de-silting scam’, also known as ‘nalla safai scam’.
In another development in the ‘road contract scam’, the municipal commissioner had ordered a probe after receiving complaint from a BJP MP and the Mumbai mayor.
The probe pertained to construction of roads during 2013-14, 2014 -15 and 2015-16. The interim probe showed serious irregularities in the roadwork. The municipal chief ordered registration of an FIR in that matter too. The petition demanded that the probe be transferred to ACB in view of alleged nexus of contractors with civic staff.
