NOC file misplaced: Two Ambala MC officials booked

Months after a no objection certificate (NOC) file prepared by the Ambala municipal corporation went missing, two officials of the civic body have been booked, police said on Wednesday

Months after a no objection certificate (NOC) file prepared by the Ambala municipal corporation went missing, two officials of the civic body have been booked, police said on Wednesday.

The accused include a junior engineer and clerk-level officer, who were posted with the concerned branch of Ambala MC last year. (Representative image)

The accused include a junior engineer and clerk-level officer, who were posted with the concerned branch last year. However, they have not been named in the FIR that was lodged on Tuesday based on the complaint of the then assistant engineer (AE) Dinesh Garg at Ambala City police station.

It was also alleged that the file was misplaced between February 24 and October 12 last year.

In his complaint to police on October 11 last year, Garg had said that M/S HP Oil Gas Pvt Ltd, Ambala City, had applied for an NOC to lay a natural gas pipeline in Ram Nagar, Palika Vihar, Luxmi Nagar, Preet Colony, Sainik Vihar, Shakti Colony, Patel Nagar, Uttaranchal Colony, Shankar Colony, RK Puram and Jandli areas.

“In this matter, a noting file was initiated to issue demand note to the company, but it was misplaced,” Garg added.

Following the complaint, a preliminary probe was carried out by sub-inspector Rohtash Singh, in-charge, police post number 4, who questioned Garg, now a municipal engineer (ME), Pradeep Kumar Shah, project manager of Sai Drilling Company and his sources in the MC.

In his report, Singh had observed that “misplacement of such important documents is a serious issue, where involvement of a government servant can’t be denied.”

Police said that the case was lodged under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) of the Indian Penal Code.