Court accepts Lokayukta appeal on low-floor buses
May 14th, 2009 - 7:54 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, May 14 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Thursday said the Lokayukta, the anti-corruption authority, had every right to seek documents from the government to probe allegations of corruption in the purchase of 625 low-floor CNG buses for the state-run Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice Neeraj Kishan Kaul stated that the anti-corruption body has full right to hold a preliminary inquiry.
The court had reserved the order on Lokayukta Tuesday. The court also set aside the single bench order that said that Lokayukta cannot seek documents for investigation.
The court had earlier also directed the Lokayukta to consider the objections of the government before deciding on a complaint of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, who alleged corruption in the purchase of the buses.
The government had during the earlier hearing termed the petition as politically motivated.
The government also stated that the documents included in the petition were of semi-low floor buses but in Delhi only low-floor buses are have been ordered.
The petition alleged that the buses were bought at an inflated price of Rs.25 lakhs (Rs.2.5 million) each.
In a Jan 28 order, Lokayukta Manmohan Sarin had served an ultimatum to the state’s transport secretary to personally produce documents relating to the purchase of non-AC low-floor buses.
The anti-corruption authority had cautioned the government of action under various sections of the Indian Penal Code which prescribes imprisonment of six months or a fine.
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Tags: ajit, bharatiya janata party, bjp leader, chief justice, delhi high court, division bench, floor buses, indian penal code, inflated price, jan 28, kaul, kishan, lakhs, manmohan, neeraj, prakash shah, preliminary inquiry, rs 2, sarin, transport corporation
