Judge asks officer to take action against erring officials

Strap: Corporation failed to take timely action against rice miller who caused Rs2.3 cr loss to govt

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, July 9

Jagadhri Additional Sessions Judge (Duty Magistrate) Dr Abdul Majid has rapped the Haryana Agro Industries Corporation for failing to take timely action against a rice miller, who did not return a share of custom milled rice (CMR) to the corporation in 2016 and, in the process, committed a fraud of Rs 2.30 crore.

The Judge asked Atul J Sirsikar, managing director of the corporation, to take legal action against erring officers.

The matter came up for hearing on Tuesday during the course of arguments on a bail plea filed by Kamal Nayan, owner of Kamal Agro Industries Limited. The judge dismissed his bail application.

The matter is five years old. In the 2015-16 kharif season, the corporation had given more than 2,368.58 MT of paddy to Kamal Agro Industries. The mill, however, missed the deadline to deliver the custom-milled rice to the corporation. The mill was given more time, but it failed to meet the deadline again.

The mill supplied only 948.83 MT of CMR to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and held back the delivery of the remaining 638.11 MT, causing a loss of Rs 2.30 crore to the corporation.

For 19 months, the corporation did not take action against the mill owner. It was on March 29, 2018, that the FIR was registered against Nayan under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC.

“Kamal Nayan committed the fraud with the Haryana Agro Industries Corporation, but timely action was not taken against him. There appears to be a serious lapse on the part of district-level officer (officers) of the corporation, resulting in financial loss to the government. The matter should be looked into by the managing director of the corporation,” the judge said in his order.