HC slams MCD for 'concealing facts'

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday took strong exception to MCD's act of "concealing facts" on ghost employees in its affidavit. HT Correspondent reports.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday took strong exception to Municipal Council of Delhi (MCD's) act of "concealing facts" on ghost employees in its affidavit and asked it to clarify whether salary was being paid to thousands of such employees.

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"This affidavit conceals everything and reveals nothing. It does not disclose facts," a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Mukta Gupta remarked.

"This is a very nicely-drafted affidavit concealing facts," he added.

Appearing for MCD, senior lawyer Ravi Shankar Prasad said through the affidavit that 22,853 ghost employees were found after the biometric system was put into practice in the office.

However, he had a tough time convincing the court as to whether they were being paid the salary.

The Bench asked the counsel to specifically file an affidavit by May 26 about the amount of salary being paid to the large number of ghost employees in the MCD office but have drawn wages for the past two decades.

The Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Jagruk Welfare Society, an NGO, through counsel C S Parashar, seeking a CBI inquiry or probe by an independent agency into the scam.

According to the NGO, a complaint was lodged with the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi police but no FIR has been registered so far.