The state government on Friday informed the Gujarat High Court that the inquiry initiated by it in the alleged scam relating to misuse of Prime Ministers National Relief (PMNR) Fund for repairing a school building includes BJP MLA from Radhanpur,Shankar Chaudhary,and his trust that runs the school. The court,which is hearing a petition moved by a Patan-based Congress worker,Farsu Goklani,had recently asked state government to clear its stand on the inquiry. In October 2010,hearing Goklanis petition filed in 2007,the HC had found that the trust owned by Chaudhary had misused around Rs 21.01 lakh given to it under the PMNR Fund to repair a school building that was damaged during the 2001 earthquake. The court had ordered the trust to pay the amount back with an interest of 10 per cent and directed the state government to initiate criminal proceedings by state CID (Crime) in the particular case. In his petition,Goklani had alleged that Chaudhary had fraudulently obtained money from the PMNR Fund to construct a building. Shri Swami Vivekanand Vikas Mandal,a trust of which Chaudhary is the managing trustee,used to run a school,Nalanda Kanya Vidyalaya,in a rented building in Radhanpur town of Patan district. The building was allegedly damaged during the 2001 earthquake. According to Goklani,Chaudhary obtained money from PMNR Fund to reconstruct the building but used it to construct a new school building somewhere else. Following the HC order in 2010,Chaudharys trust deposited the money with the state government but the latter did not initiate criminal prosecution ordered by the court. Goklani subsequently moved HC again with a prayer to get its order implemented. Following this,the state government filed an affidavit saying it had initiated an inquiry to be conducted by a senior IAS officer to suggest possible criminal prosecution of the officials responsible in the matter. Objecting to this,Goklanis lawyer had contended that the inquiry covered only officials and not others,which means Chaudhary would be let off. Following this,the court has asked the state government to clear its stand. On Friday,the state government stated that Chaudhary and his trust would also be included in the inquiry.
