Law officer held after missing Noida Authority files found in his home

R K Sharma,the accused law officer,was held accountable for the files that went missing from the legal department of the Authority. The case had come to light when the Uttar Pradesh Public Services Tribunal,which had sought the files,issued orders to stop the payment of the chief executive officer of the Noida Authority after it did not receive the information.

The details in the files were regarding former chief maintenance engineer of the Authority,S P S Chauhan,who was suspended after a complaint was filed against him for alleged misappropriation of funds in a project on the Expressway.

“The budget of the project was Rs 100 crore. The Authority received a complaint against him and he was suspended in 1995,” a senior official at the Authority said.

Chauhan had then moved court against the suspension and the court had later transferred the case to the tribunal.

“The tribunal had asked for the files of the complainant (Chauhan) and the complaint against him. That file also had the grounds cited for the complainant’s suspension. The Authority could not find the file,” the official said.

After the tribunal decided to stop the salary of the CEO,the senior officials began looking for the files and the law officer was asked to find the missing files,sources said.

“The law officer said he did not know about the files. The Authority,however,held him responsible,” the official added.

Assistant Law Officer Surendra Kumar then lodged a case against Law Officer Sharma on behalf of the Authority citing the latter’s role in the files going untraceable.

On Monday night,the police raided the Sector-27 residence of Sharma and claimed to have recovered a few of the ‘missing’ files and the CD that has the data of the files.

The police arrested Sharma under Section 406 of the IPC and registered a case at the Sector-20 police station.