SIT given free hand on NH-74 scam: Kaushik

The State Government has given the special investigation team (SIT) a free hand to investigate the multi-crore National Highway (NH)–74 land acquisition and compensation scam and the investigation is progressing in the right direction, said the State Government spokesperson and a senior Cabinet Min Madan Kaushik while interacting with  the media persons at the State secretariat on Saturday. 

Quizzed over why the two Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers whose role as arbitrators has come under a cloud after the SIT cast doubts are yet to be suspended by the State Government, the Minister said that there is a process for everything. “We are just following the established procedures,” he said. In a roundabout reference to the explanation sought by the State Govt from the two IAS officers Pankaj Kumar Pandey and Chandresh Yadav, he said that the SIT while proceeding with the case is making necessary contacts. The Minister claimed that the State Government’s stand on the scam from the day one is very clear. “We are resolved to see to it that nobody found guilty is spared, irrespective of his or her status,” he affirmed.

On Friday, the department of personnel of Uttarakhand had dispatched letters to Pandey and Yadav, asking them to submit their clarification on irregularities in arbitrations allegedly done by them in their capacity as District Magistrate of Udham Singh Nagar within seven days. The Government sources said that they would move further after the clarifications sought from the two IAS officers are received. It is learnt from the Government sources that in case the explanations to be put forward by the officers are not found satisfactory the State Government might take permission from the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance and Pensions to take punitive action against them.  The action initiated by the State Government against the two IAS officers has already left many in the State bureaucracy scared. 

At least two dozen officers, including some Provincial Civil Services (PCS) and officers deployed as ADM and SDMs, are now cooling their heels in jails for their alleged involvement in the multi-core scam –dubbed by many as a super scam-which is said to have occurred during the years 2011 to 2016 when work on widening of the Haridwar-Bareilly National Highway (NH – 74) was on. In connivance with the corrupt officers, the agricultural lands were shown as non- agricultural lands in revenue records, resulting in a huge increase in the value of the lands acquired for the purpose and the corresponding hike in the compensation amounts paid for their acquisition. 

The scam was first detected by then Kumaon commissioner, D Senthil Pandian following which the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government sought a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the scam. However, as the Centre dithered on accepting the CBI probe recommendation of the State Government a SIT probe to be headed by the Senior Superintendent of Police ( SSP) of Udham Singh Nagar was ordered by the State Govt.