Hyderabad: Look from any angle, contemporary politics is riddled with scandals. The irony is that neither there is an element of truth in the pledges made under oath by the political leaders that they will discharge their responsibilities in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favor, affection or ill-will, nor the affidavits submitted to courts by the Anti-Corruption departments working under their control.
'He is not a politician who does not change his views occasionally', said Girisham the famous character of 'Kanyasulkam’. The anti-corruption department of Maharashtra has truly followed Girisham by conveniently changing its statements in collusion with the political bosses.
At the backdrop of serious allegations that there was a scam of 70,000 crores in awarding water projects contracts, the Bombay High Court ordered the ACB to inquire into the extent of Ajit Pawar's involvement in the scam. In his affidavit submitted to the High Court, Nagpur Bench in the last week of November last year, the ACB Director-General said, "According to Clause X of the Maharashtra government's General Administration Rules, the longest-serving Minister of Water Resources during the Congress and NCP-led governments, is alone responsible for all the irregularities in that department."
While Ajit Pawar insisted that the Secretaries and Executive Directors are responsible to ensure that all the regulations and procedures are observed properly, the ACB told the court that he had signed all the files relating to the award of contracts and advance payments. Subsequently, it stated that ‘All those who were responsible for the scam and heavy loss to government, were trying to pass the buck on to others taking shelter of rules and regulations’.
The ACB has made it clear in its affidavit that it is a conspiracy within the Ministry of Water Resources to defraud the government. Notice how ACB changed its opinion within one year.
The SP representing the ACB submitted a 16-page affidavit to the High Court saying, "Though the Minister for Water Resources is the Chairman of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation, he cannot be held responsible for the mistakes done by the executive committee...it is not his responsibility to watch the irregularities."
The ACB, which confirmed Ajit Pawar's involvement in the assignment of contracts, conveniently changed its stand and accused that the Irrigation Chief Secretary and the Corporation Executive Director are responsible for all irregularities. In support of its argument, it stated that there is no recorded evidence that the Secretary of Water Resources advised Ajit Pawar not to accept the tenders quoting high prices.
The ACB is investigating 2,654 tenders for 45 projects under the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation. It is investigating allegations in respect of 32 irrigation projects that incurred 'excess expenditure’ i.e. over Rs 17,700 crore.
It is hard to believe that there were new findings in the investigation until November 2018 this year. The reason for the shift in stand of the ACB is not very difficult to understand.....if one knows how skilled are its departments to change colour as per need and opportunity and change affida‘wits’ accordingly!
In a democratic country like India, where the power changes hands once in every five years, all the departments have acquired the skills to adapt themselves to the whims and fancies of the rulers. Ten days ago news broke that Ajit Pawar was getting out of the trap of corruption cases and that it was a reward for his support to the Fadnavis minority government.
Then the ACB rushed to clarify that it has closed only the cases of nine irrigation departments, which have nothing to do with Ajit Pawar. A look at the affidavit filed by the ACB in the High Court on 27th of last month makes it clear that Ajit Pawar reportedly has no responsibility for the alleged mishandling of projects as per certain provisions of the Maharashtra State government. Now, it is not important whether the cases closed are nine or nineteen, the overzealous enthusiasm and hard work of the ACB in trying to protect Ajit Pawar from all the cases quoting sundry and all clauses is most concerning. All of this has happened two days after Ajit Pawar became Deputy Chief Minister of the Fadnavis government and a day before the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress alliance came to power.
As per the facts uncovered by media in September 2012, when Ajit Pawar was the Minister of Irrigation, 32 projects were granted in just three months at higher estimates overruling the objections of the department concerned. An amount of Rs. 70,000 crores were spent on 1200 large and medium scale irrigation projects. The growth rate in the benefited areas was just one percent! He granted projects worth Rs. 20,000 crores magnanimously within eight months without the recommendation of the Irrigation Development Corporation. The political turmoil over this type of irregularities led to the overthrow of Ajit Pawar in 2012.
The opposition leader, Fadnavis presented as many as 14,000 pages of evidence to the Special Investigative Team set up by the Congress and the NCP government. It was alleged that in collusion with the executive committee of the corporation, he benefited the contractors for commissions. An investigation team led by Madhav Chitale reported the facts; but the then government gave Ajit Pawar a clean chit. Though the case was handed over to the ACB just a few months after Fadnavis became the chief minister in 2014, the investigation dragged for four years and declared that Ajit Pawar was responsible for the irregularities....and surprisingly the same body has now reversed its stand.
A contractor from Pune submitted a written statement to the government in 2014 that payment of commissions was a must to all in the Irrigation department -- ranging from clerk to Executive Engineers, Superintending Engineers, Directors, Secretary and Chairman and the share of these bribes was upto 22 per cent of the total project cost. Irrespective of the outcry and criticism, the central and state government departments like the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorates, Anti Corruption Bureaus, etc., have been toeing the line of the politicians in power and failing from their responsibilities and losing public faith and confidence in them.
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