Lease case: SC cancels Rajasthan HC's order which gave relief to ex-minister

Jaipur, Nov 5 (IANS) Former state minister and Congress MLA Shanti Dhariwal and three ex-JDA officials on Tuesday got a setback from the Supreme Court as the bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan quashed the orders of the Rajasthan High Court, which earlier announced to end the criminal proceedings in the single lease case against them.

The Supreme Court directed the High Court to hear the case again in six months. RTI activist Ashok Pathak had filed an SLP (Special Leave Petition) in the Supreme Court against two orders of the High Court.

Additional Advocate General Shiv Mangal Sharma, who pleaded on behalf of the state government in the Supreme Court, said that on Tuesday the Supreme Court quashed both the orders of the High Court dated 17 January 2023 and 15 November 2022 which asked to end criminal proceedings against the then ACS GS Sandhu, Deputy Secretary Nishkam Diwakar and Zone Deputy Commissioner Omkarmal Saini.

The High Court, on the basis of the ACB plea, had considered the withdrawal of the case against Sandhu, Diwakar and Saini of the state government, however, SC quashed the same on Tuesday.

Additional Advocate General Sharma, who represented the state government in the Supreme Court, said that the affidavit presented by the state government in the Supreme Court in April said that there was no criminal case. Also, he was not consulted while a new affidavit was presented and a request was made to cancel the orders of the High Court which the court accepted.

AAG Sharma said that the ACB had presented three closure reports in the court, which did not have all the facts included. In such a situation, the ACB court rejected two closure reports and no decision was taken on the third. During this time the case went to the High Court. In January last, the High Court considered the withdrawal of the case against former IAS GS Sandhu, Nishkam Diwakar and Omkar Mal Saini to be correct and dismissed the case against Dhariwal.

On 29 June 2011, Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) issued a single lease in the name of Shailendra Garg, the proprietor of Ganpati Construction. Complainant Ramsharan Singh had complained to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2013 against the deal. Soon after the complaint in ACB, the then ACS GS Sandhu, Deputy Secretary Nishkam Diwakar, Zone Deputy Commissioner Omkarmal Saini, Shailendra Garg and two other accused were arrested. ACB had presented a challan against them in the court. When the matter escalated, the department cancelled the single lease on 25 May 2013.

ACB had registered a case in the single lease case on 3 December 2014 during the then Vasundhara government. A challan was also presented against the accused. At that time, the then UDH Minister Shanti Dhariwal was also questioned. As soon as the government changed in the state, the ACB in the Gehlot government presented three closure reports in the case in the court. In all three closure reports, the government gave a clean chit to former IAS GS Sandhu, former RAS Nishkam Diwakar and Omkarmal Saini in this case.

Surprisingly, the Bhajan Lal government also gave a clean chit to all others including Dhariwal while presenting its reply in the Supreme Court on 22 April 2024, saying that there is no case in the single lease case.

Earlier, the government took a U-turn from its reply and presented a new affidavit in the Supreme Court which on behalf of the government said that a case is made against Congress MLA Shanti Dhariwal and three officials. The affidavit presented in the Supreme Court in April 2024 said that senior officials and AAG were not consulted. The government further changed the case officer associated with the case.

--IANS

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