Faridabad, October 14
The third IAS officer and a former Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF), Sonal Goel, appeared before the Vigilance today, but did not respond to queries by the investigating officials. However, she submitted a representation, claiming that the Vigilance was only authorised for an inquiry and not investigation as a civil writ petition (CWP) filed by her in the High Court was pending. Earlier, the Vigilance had interrogated Mohammed Shayin and Anita Yadav in connection with the ongoing probe in the reported scam of Rs 200 crore in the MCF.
Goel, who reached the Vigilance office here around noon and stayed here for over an hour, told the investigating team that though she had appeared before in response to a summon issued to her in connection with the investigation regarding the FIR on April 19, 2022 under various sections of the IPC, she said she was not bound to join the investigation as per the order of the High Court in CWP 22276-2022. According to which, the authorities might continue with the inquiry in terms of sanctions so granted and no coercive action in terms of investigation would be undertaken against the petitioner till the next date of hearing. "I wish to inform you that during the course of arguments, the Director, Vigilance, had sought permission to investigate under Section 17 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, but the Chief Secretary, Haryana Government, had accorded permission under the same section only for inquiry and not investigation and no police officer would conduct an inquiry against a public servant in discharge of the official function or duties without previous approval," said the representation. Earlier, both Shayin and Yadav told the investigating officials that they had no role in the scam and were not involved in any kind of irregularity.
The Vigilance has registered four cases for the payment of several crores of rupees in the bank accounts of the same contractor from 2015 to 2021 without doing work.
EXPOSED IN 2020
The scam was exposed in May 2020. Eight persons, including two former Chief Engineers and a contractor, were arrested in connection with the four cases.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/nN9hKwC
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