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| Court acquits AC, tehsildar, facing trial for last 15 yrs | | ‘Poonch flood relief scam | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Feb 5
Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu, Mr. Kartar Singh, acquitted the then Assistant Commissioner GM Dar, AC (Revenue), Mohd Sharief Qurehi (dead), Mohd Bashir Bhat, the then Tehsildar Haveli, Rehmatullah Khan, the then Naib-Tehsildar, Om Parkash then Girdawar, Abid Hussain then Patwari, Noor Mohd Relief Clerk DC Office Poonch, Mohd Bashir, Alim Din, Shah Mohd, Mir Mohd private respondents and Mohan Lal then Tehsildar Haveli, Poonch, acquitted from the charges of alleged misappropriation of Rs. 60 lakhs flood relief, as Vigilance miserably failed to prove that there was any conspiracy among the accused in order to commit irregularities in the distribution of relief.
In the 19 page judgment Special Judge, after hearing SPO for the state and Adv SC Bali with Pradeep Malhotra appearing for the accused persons, observed that Shakeel Ahmed Beig then Dy SP VOJ who had conducted the investigation of the case had visited the affected villages and recorded the statement of witnesses. He had deposed that the houses of four persons situated at Darrabagyal were not damaged but a compensation of Rs 17, 650 was misappropriated. He has further stated that a preliminary enquiry was conducted on the complaint filed by one Ghulam Rasool, but he could not be traced either during enquiry or during investigation. He has admitted the fact that in the year 1992 the houses of the people were damaged in District Poonch due to heavy rain fall and for the said purpose a relief grant of Rs 60/65 lakhs was sanctioned by the Govt, which was kept at the disposal of DC Poonch. The Divisional Commissioner had appointed a 3- member Committee which submitted the report. He did not think it proper to concur with the said report because he had conducted an independent investigation and found that relief amount had been misappropriated by the accused. However, he has proved the fact that cheques and the acquaintance roll were signed by the Deputy Commissioner Poonch.
Court further said that the statement of this witness is also of no help to the Vigilance because it has not been corroborated by any other witness. The Divisional Commissioner had appointed a fact finding committee of competent revenue officers but IO has ignored their report also. It is proved from his statement that the accused had nothing to do with the distribution of the relief and all the cheques and acquaintance rolls were signed by the Deputy Commissioner Poonch, who had distributed the relief as proved by the other prosecution witnesses. In view of the statements of the witnesses, it is held that Vigilance has miserably failed to prove that there was any conspiracy among the accused in order to commit irregularities in the distribution of relief. Not a single witness has supported the Vigilance case. The fact finding committee has also exonerated the accused and after proper verification, came to the conclusion that there was no bungling in the distribution of the relief to the affected people. The committee had visited all the affected villages and there is no ground to disbelieve their report. The present case pertains to the bungling of relief money amounting to Rs 17650. It is an admitted fact that an amount of Rs 60/65 lakhs was sanctioned as relief grant in favour of the affected persons of district Poonch and it cannot be excepted out of an huge amount, the amount could have committed bungling in the relief money to the extend of Rs 16,750 only. If there was misunderstanding in the distribution in the relief that was because of the fact that all the affected persons could not get the relief for obvious reason that the relief grant stood exhausted and request was made to the Government for further release of grant. In view of the such circumstances it can safely be concluded that there is even not an iota of evidence against the accused, which could say that the accused had entered into a criminal conspiracy and misappropriated an amount of Rs 16750. Hence they are acquitted of the charges framed against them. JNF |
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