Nagpur, Jul 23 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Tuesday quashed an FIR against four officials of the Maharashtra irrigation department who were accused of increasing the cost of tenders floated for the Gosikhurd project in Vidarbha region.
The Anti Corruption Bureau, Nagpur, had conducted an inquiry in the alleged irregularities committed by various officials while executing the project on the river Wainganga.
Subsequently, First Information Reports were registered against many officials.
Alleged scams in irrigation projects had become a huge political issue in Maharashtra some years ago, with the BJP and its then ally Shiv Sena targeting the previous Congress-NCP government over it.
Sanjay Kholapurkar, who was working as superintending engineer and then posted as administrator of the command area development authority; Devendra Shirke, who was managing director of the Maharashtra Water Conservation Corporation, Aurangabad in 2013; Sopal Suryavansi, chief engineer of the Gosikhurd Project, and Lalit Ingalewal, executive engineer, Gosikhurd canal division No III, Nagbhid were named in an FIR.
It was alleged that tenders were floated by increasing prices and without following the established procedure.
In its ruling, the HC observed that the ACB official who conducted the open inquiry was not an expert in the field.
Administrative lapses were noted in a departmental inquiry, but every administrative lapse cannot give rise to a criminal action, said the high court.
The government had not clarified whether it has challenged the judgments in other related cases, it said.
A division bench of Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Vrushali V Joshi, thus, quashed and set aside the FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against all the four accused. PTI CLS KRK
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