By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Monday informed the Supreme Court that it has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into allegations of irregularities and misappropriation of funds in implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Orissa.
An apex court bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice K.S. Panicker Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar was told that CBI was asked on April 4 to “investigate the matter and initiate criminal proceedings against the delinquent officers under the relevant laws”.
Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaisingh handed over to the court a copy of the letter that the rural development ministry has written to the CBI director to undertake the investigation and “accord (it) priority”.
She sought some time so that the necessary notification for the CBI probe could be issued.
Appearing for the petitioner, NGO Centre for Environment and Food Security, senior counsel Prashant Bhushan asked why central government needed time for issuing the notification. He asked the court to direct the CBI to file the FIR and proceed with the investigations.
However, the court gave the government two weeks time to complete the formalities for issuing the notification.
The decision for a CBI probe came nearly four months after the apex court Dec 16, 2010 issued notice to the Orissa government asking why the irregularities in implementing the MGNREGS in the state should not be handed over to CBI.
During the last hearing of the matter March 14, the court had asked the central government to say categorically whether it will be authorising the CBI to investigate the allegations of misappropriation and diversion of central funds allocated for the scheme to Orissa.
The NGO alleged that it had found out, in a survey, that the funds were being siphoned by corrupt officials, thereby, denying lakhs of poor people their fundamental right to livelihood.
So startling were the findings of the survey that at one stage of the hearing of matter, Chief Justice Kapadia had observed: “… we find misappropriation of huge funds; targeted people deprived of scare resource and payment of their dues. If what is stated in these reports is true, than serious action need to be taken to prevent misappropriation of funds meant for MGNREGS”.