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‘Corruption’ in Rishikesh local body: HC asks Uttarakhand to act in three months
The high court of Uttarakhand has asked the state government to take action within three months in the case of Rishikesh local body chairman being allegedly involved in corruption including financial irregularities and misuse of his powers
The high court of Uttarakhand has asked the state government to take action within three months in the case of Rishikesh local body chairman being allegedly involved in corruption including financial irregularities and misuse of his powers.
In June 2014, a delegation of ward members including those from the BJP and the Congress, had submitted a nine-point complaint against Deep Sharma, chairman of Rishikesh municipal council, to the then governor and sought a high-level probe against him and his removal him from the chairman’s position.
Based on the governor’s directions, the urban development department handed over the probe to the Garhwal commissioner, who in turn found the chairman “prime facie guilty” of various irregularities in probe report (a copy of which is with HT) in February and then again in December 2015.
In March the same year, the government issued show cause notice to Sharma under Section 48 of the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act (adopted by Uttarakhand) - which deals with removal of chairman of a municipal body, asking him why he should not be removed from his position.
No action, however, was eventually taken against him, alleged Rishikesh-based activist and petitioner Yogesh Sharma, who moved a public interest litigation (PIL) with the high court in May 2015. He again filed an urgency plea in the matter in October this year.
Disposing of the writ petition, a double bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice K M Joseph and Justice V K Bisht, issued direction to the government in this regard on November 3.
“The proceedings, which have been commenced by issuance of show cause notices, will be brought to its conclusion, in accordance with law, as early as possible within a period of three months,” the judgment, a copy of which is with HT, stated. In case of the violation of the judgment, the petitioner will be free to approach the competent forum, it further read.
“Probe was held against Sharma twice by the Garhwal commissioner, who found him guilty of seven out of nine counts of committing financial irregularities and misuse of powers, but still no action was taken against him by the former (Congress) government. Now that the court has put the ball in the government’s court, we appeal to the current (BJP) government which talks about zero tolerance against corruption, to take action in the matter urgently,” the petitioner said.
Chairman Deep Sharma did not respond to HT’s repeated attempts to contact him for his version.
The development, meanwhile, has created ripples in civic politics of Uttarakhand, which is set to undergo urban local body polls early next year.
Congress leader Surendra Kumar, who is spokesperson of former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, said the “law should take its own course based on the merits of the case.”
He, however, alleged that public representatives not belonging to the ruling party (BJP) were being “selectively targeted by the BJP government” and it had to be ensured that there was “no political vendetta involved in taking action against Sharma”.
Darshan Singh Rawat, media coordinator of CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, meanwhile, said the government will take “appropriate action in the matter based on the court’s order” within the given time frame. “The government is committed to ensuring zero tolerance against corruption and we will take appropriate action after studying the case,” he told HT.
