Chandigarh toilet scam: HC restrains trial court from passing final order

The high court bench of justice Anoop Chitkara said the trial may go on, however, final judgment will not be pronounced till September 11; the infamous scam involves a former superintending engineer of municipal corporation, RC Diwan

The Punjab and Haryana high court has restrained a trial court from passing final order in the infamous toilet scam, involving a former superintending engineer of municipal corporation (MC), RC Diwan.

The former engineer had approached the high court stating that no “ sanction “ for his prosecution was sought by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that was mandatory under Section 197 of the CrPC. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The high court bench of justice Anoop Chitkara said the trial may go on, however, final judgment will not be pronounced till September 11. However, the court has imposed some conditions, including that the petitioner, the former engineer, will not seek any adjournment before the trial court. “It is clarified that in case the petitioner seeks a single adjournment, this order shall stand recalled automatically,” the bench asserted.

Diwan had approached the high court stating that no “ sanction “ for his prosecution was sought by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that was mandatory under Section 197 of the CrPC.

CBI had registered an FIR in 2014. The scam was initially pegged at ₹13 crore. However, the bureau filed a charge-sheet in October 2016, stating that the scam caused a loss of ₹25.8 lakh to the state exchequer.

The matter pertains to two tenders issued and allotted in 2007 for operation and maintenance of 86 toilet blocks in various commercial complexes of Chandigarh to a firm Selvel Media. The maintenance of toilets was in lieu of advertisement on walls of public toilets and connecting passages.