By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to the central and Uttar Pradesh governments on a plea seeking a CBI probe into the corruption and illegalities in the implementation of rural job guarantee scheme in the state.
A bench of Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya issued notice on an application by the petitioner, Centre for Environment & Food Security, seeking direction for a thorough Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
The application said that after the receipt of a large number of complaints, the central government had concluded the need for CBI probe into the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in the state.
The application said that then state Chief Minister Mayawati twice rejected the request by Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, whose ministry was the nodal agency for implementation of the scheme to order probe into allegation of corruption and irregularities.
The application said that Ramesh cited serious irregularities in the purchase of administrative items such as water tanks, medical kits, tin plates etc. from the amount budgeted under the NREGA.
The apex court, which last year had directed a CBI probe into implementation of NREGA in Odisha, Friday asked senior counsel K.K. Venugopal appearing for the state to file an affidavit on the steps the state had taken to remove the irregularities.