Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to Anna Hazare as well as the central and Maharashtra governments on a petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged siphoning of central government funds given to the anti-corruption activist’s Hind Swaraj Trust (HST).

Rubbishing allegations of corruption against Hazare, activist Medha Patkar said that he was an honest person and ready for an enquiry.

The plea for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Hazare, also known as Kishan Baburao Hazare, was filed in the apex court by lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma.

The apex court also issued notice to the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) - an autonomous agency functioning under the aegis of the union rural development ministry.

An apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai issued notices after Sharma said that the CBI investigation be done under the “supervision and control” of the court.

An affidavit filed by the petitioner said that Hazare’s HST based in his village Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra was set up Feb 8, 1995, applied for registration with a capital of Rs.500 on Feb 21, 1995 and was registered April 4, 1995.

The trust received a cheque of Rs.45 lakh from the central government March 31, 1995 to meet its expenses for the financial year 1994-95. The HST was also given Rs.65.85 lakh by the Maharashtra government for 1995-96, the petition said.

Describing it as a “clear case of fraud and criminal breach of trust with public funds”, the affidavit questioned how a trust which was not even born and had no more than Rs.500 as capital for registration Feb 21, 1995 spent Rs.45 lakh for the period of 1994-95 prior to its establishment.

“It is a clear case of fraud, criminal breach of trust upon the state treasury played by Hazare, coupled with his associates/groups and politician friends,” the petition said.

The 2005 Justice P.B. Sawant Commission report into the allegations against Hazare disclosed that in 1995 he got Rs.75 lakh from CAPART, the petitioner said.

This was against the eligibility criteria being followed by the CAPART, he said.

The petitioner said that a society became eligible for receipt of assistance from the CAPART only after three years experience in the relevant field from the date of registration with the CAPART.

In 2001, the CAPART released Rs.5 crore to Hazare in the name of rural help.

Sharma, in his affidavit filed Oct 12, said that the true worth of financial assistance given to Hazare’s trust would only be known if apex court issued “direction and action within their supervision and control for which petitioner has prayed for”.

He said the CAPART July 18, 2010, released a list of 882 blacklisted NGOs and voluntary organisations facing allegations of embezzlement of grants but till date the central government had not initiated any action for the recovery of money or criminal investigations.

Activist Medha Patkar, in a related development, defended Hazare and said: “A number of such allegations will come up unless they are proved…Everyone knows that Anna is not a corrupt person.”

The founder of the Narmada Bachao Andolan and the National Alliance of People’s Movements said: “The same is true about the earlier enquiry by the Maharashtra government when nothing could come out.”