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Journalism of Courage
The Gujarat High Court on Monday granted relief to BJP minister Purushottam Solanki against non-bailable warrant issued by a special anti-corruption court in connection with the multi-crore fisheries scam. The High Court stayed the warrant till the second week of February, a day before special court was to hear the case in Gandhinagar.
On a plea moved by Solanki, a single judge bench of Justice J B Pardiwala stayed the warrant issued by special judge R A Ghoghari.
Solanki’s lawyer Virat Popat told the High Court that despite police report stating “no case is made out against Solanki, a non-bailable warrant was issued by the special court”.
The court stayed the warrant and ordered to take up the case in the second week of February.
In September last year, the High Court had stayed the trial in this case against former minister Dilip Sanghani, who was also allegedly involved along with five retired government officers.
In this case Solanki, who was the then minister of state for fisheries and currently state minister for animal husbandry and cow protection, granted fishing contracts for 58 reservoirs to his alleged favourite parties, bypassing the mandatory auctioning process.
The matter came to light after Ishaq Maradia, a Banaskantha-based fishing contractor, approached the High Court accusing Solanki and others of irregularities in awarding contracts for fishing in 2008. Maradia moved the court after he was denied the contract.
In September 2008, the HC scrapped the contracts and ordered fresh tenders to be invited. These tenders fetched the government Rs 45 crore in one year, against Rs 2.4 crore for the contracts granted by Solanki. Maradia estimated that due to irregularities there was a loss of Rs 400 crore to the exchequer.
Maradia made a fresh move in court to seek Solanki’s prosecution, which turned into a major political controversy in 2012 after the then Governor Kamla Beniwal granted sanction to prosecute the minister against the decision of counsel of ministers led by the then chief minister Narendra Modi.
The state challenged the Governor’s decision in the High Court, but it was rejected.
Following the court’s order, a complaint was filed before the special court in Gandhinagar which ordered a probe.
The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) submitted its report in 2012 stating that Solanki is “guilty of changing the policy despite not being competent” to do so and, therefore, he can be booked for corruption.
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