HC to CBI: Expedite probe into irregularities

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 22

The Delhi High Court has rapped the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for sitting over preliminary inquiries into allegations of irregularities in resettlement schemes for ex-servicemen despite the investigating agency’s own statements that cognisable offences had been made out.

The court has directed the CBI to immediately convert the inquiry reports into FIRs and ensure expeditious investigation into the matter.

Some retired armed forces officers had alleged large scale misappropriation in the collection and deposit of provident fund contribution, insurance subscription and service tax collected from Army personnel re-employed under schemes of the Directorate General of Resettlement (DGR).

The Ministry of Defence had ordered a probe into the matter in August 2013. In 2015, a writ petition had sought registration of FIR and effective monitoring of the case.

In its order on July 20, a Division Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal had observed that the CBI appears to have merely registered preliminary inquiries in the matter and those did not culminate into registration of formal FIRs. 

The Bench observed that this was despite the CBI filing affidavits that prima facie supported the contentions raised by the complainants.

Excerpts of the affidavit taken note of by the Bench state that the CBI had intimated the Director General, Vigilance, Customs and Central Excise of instances of short payment of service tax for initiating necessary action against erring service providers.

The affidavits also reveal that preliminary inquiry was registered in May 2014 against 46 ex-servicemen/institutes and unknown officials of the DGR. Further, they also listed out irregularities like officers being allotted multiple second careers so that those could be sublet to civilians on a quid-pro-quo basis, a single registration number being allotted to several officers and a single officer being allotted different registration numbers. 

Incorporation of non-existent and fake institutes for training, including those purportedly being run from residential premises, submission of fake documents and providing false information for employment were among other observations contained in the CBI affidavits.

Headquarters Western Command too had ordered a court of inquiry (COI) into the allegations in 2015 that was headed by the General Officer Commanding Delhi Area. The COI opined that since the matter was already being probed by the central agency and duplication in investigation was unwarranted, all documents and related information available be handed over to the CBI.