SRA projects: HC asks activist to file affidavit
Renni Abraham

The state government has rejected the Anti-Corruption Bureau's request to
set up a special investigation team (SIT), which would investigate instances
of criminal misconduct by officials of the Slum Redevelopment Authority
(SRA), the BMC and private developers who were involved in SRA-sanctioned
schemes.

Right to Information (RTI) activist Shailesh Gandhi brought the government's
decision to the notice of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, and has been
asked to file an affidavit on the issue.

Earlier, the ACB probe into three specific SRA projects (in 2005 a special
ACB court directed them to investigate the case), had resulted in the arrest
of five SRA developers. As a result, since September 2006, they received
close to 200 more complaints.

The ACB realised that its small staff could not handle the large volume of
SRA-related complaints along with its regular case load and requested the
state to set up a SIT which would handle the SRA cases.

Surprisingly, the state in a decision taken on December 21, 2006 (a copy of
which is available with DNA) stated: "The government has decided that there
is no need to set up a SIT. This decision also announces the setting up of a
one-man committee comprising retired additional chief secretary BK Aggarwal
to conduct a preliminary probe into the corruption complaints being received
by the ACB."

In September 2006, the state Housing Department issued a missive to the SRA
asking it to provide the ACB with information related only to the three
cases it had been directed to look into. Moreover, developers under
investigation managed to stay the probe by questioning whether the special
court had the power to direct ACBinvestigations. They cited arguments made
by state Advocate General Ravi Kadam in another similar case in the Supreme
Court where he argued that the magisterial court was not empowered to direct
the CBI to conduct a probe against a state department.

Ironically, Kadam who was representing the ACB in the SRA case found his own
arguments being used against his client. A senior official told DNA: "In the
present instance the ACB is a state agency that was directed to probe the
SRA projects by the local court."

He added that the CBI may conduct a probe against a state government
department on a request made by the concerned state government, while the
ACB is faced with no such limitations.


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