Former BJP minister booked by vigilance in Himachal

Said Additional Director General of police (Vigilance) Prithvi Raj “the vigilance ,in compliance to the court orders,investigated the case and scrutinized the record of Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) and found a prime facie made out against the former minister”.

“Later,I passed the orders for registration of the FIR” he confirmed. Krishan Kapoor,a senior BJP leader was initially minister for Housing,Urban Development,Town and Country Planning in the Prem Kumar Dhumal government till he passed the orders for allotment,but later was shifted transport folio.”

After the controversy and allegations of irregularities and misue of power,Kapoor had quickly returned the plot to HIMUDA .

A local resident Arun Dev Bisht from Dharamshala ,in 2009 had filed a petition in the High Court alleging gross misuse of powers by the minister .He placed on record documents which he had obtained through RTI.The court,had asked the state government to conduct an inquiry into the allegations by former minister .

Passing the order in August 2013,a division bench comprising Chief Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice V.K. Sharma said “We are of the considered opinion that all aspects of the matter should be inquired into by the vigilance by an officer not below the rank of superintendent of police,”

After the inquiry,which says Additional DGP Prthivi Raj,the vigilance had also submitted a report to the court last month.

State’s Advocate General Sharwan Dogra had also favoured immediate action against the former minister on the basis of the the material collected during the inquiry that had revealed commission of cognizable offence.

The petition said though Kapoor had returned the plot allotted to his wife,he could not escape the consequence of wrongdoings in the allotment.

The Category I plot,numbered 39 and measuring 836 square meters,is at Housing Colony Khanyara,near Dharamshala – Kapoor’s own constituency. The allotment was made on May 6,2008,under the Partial Self-Financing Scheme.The estimated cost of the plot,say Himachal Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) officials,is Rs 16,43 lakh approximately.

Kapoor had been insisting that he had not committed any violation and there have also been precedents when politicians have taken allotted plots even before .

The investigation done by a SP-rank officer reveals that the minister was not eligible to get plot as he already had property at Dharamshala and moreover the process for allottment was not transparent as norms laid down by the Supreme Court .He had also allotted another plot to a journalist based at Dharamshala exceeding the quota earmarked for discriminatory allotments as par rules framed by HIMUDA .

Earlier state vigilance had started prosecution against former BJP minister Rajeev Bindal on the basis of a FIR lodged during earlier Congress regime.