Nod to prosecute IAS officer sought

Gupta, currently Additional Secretary Administrative Reforms and Training (ART) had, in fact, himself sought an expeditious completion of the investigations by the vigilance department. The cases against him and a divisional forest officer P. C. Sharma were registered in June 1996, after a preliminary inquiry had prima-facie, established the charges of excess purchases, tempering of the records and procedural irregularities.

The initial complaint pertaining to irregularities in the purchase under the Desert Development Project (DDP) was by veteran tribal leader and then speaker, T. S. Negi.

Reliable sources said pipes worth Rs 36.55 lakh were purchased out of the funds earmarked for desert development works in the district. Though Gupta had formed a committee under his chairmanship in 1993 for this purpose, the vigilance inquiry revealed that excess purchases were made by passing the procedural norms. The pipes purchases from the local firm were also not of standard quality. The vigilance department, during the investigations, had also sought an expert opinion which had confirmed the doubts on the quality of the pipes.

Sources in the vigilance department claim that the purchases were not only in excess to the actual requirements, but also were beyond budgetary provisions. The records were also found to have been tempered with to cover-up the irregularities.

After the complaint was received by the government, the inquiry was first entrusted to the Conservator of Forests at Rampur. Later, the government decided to get the matter examined through the vigilance department and the preliminary inquiry found substantial evidence to register the FIRs and start a detailed investigation.

After return of the BJP government in March, the vigilance department had, allegedly come under strong pressures from some high-ups to drop the cases. However, that led to speedy completion of investigations.