Bangalore, Sept 26, 2013: The High Court on Thursday upheld the State government’s decision to entrust the probe into the multi-crore fake bill scam to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Justice K N Keshava Narayana dismissed a batch of petitions by BBMP officials, Idiya Vendon, B G Prakash Kumar and others against the CID probe. The petitioners had also questioned the action by the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTC) to register cases against them.
The BMTF had powers to prosecute the officials, the court said. “The petitioners have no locus standi (the right to be heard) to file the writ petition unless there is liability or responsibility. They do not have any grievance to file this petition,” the court observed.
On the petitioners’ contention that the BMTF should have obtained sanction to prosecute them, the court refused to interfere in the matter and observed, “Sanctions necessary or not may have to be determined stage by stage. Challenging the order of taking cognizance of offence against a public servant for want of sanction at this stage cannot be a ground to quash the proceedings. The matter should be determined stage by stage by the jurisdictional magistrate.”
The court then dismissed the petition. “The allegation is that petitioners forged the documents to obtain large sums of payment. The funds of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahangara Palike (BBMP) have been misused. Bills have been passed without work being entrusted. It is a huge loss to the BBMP,” the judge noted. “Prosecution by the CID cannot be quashed for want of sanction as required under Section 197 of CrPC.”
The Special Public Prosecutor, Vijay Kumar Majjage, submitted that 40 charge sheets had been filed in the case. The BMTF FIR was based on an audit report which alleged large-scale misappropriation of funds in asphalting work in Gandhinagar, Malleswaram and Rajarajeshwari Nagar divisions of the BBMP. The scam was estimated at Rs 1,539 crore. The BMTF found that work codes were forged and bills cleared for work not done at all.
