HC slams govt for inaction against tainted official

The HC expressed its dissatisfaction over the manner in which the govt dealt with a bribery case pertaining to the alleged constable recruitment scam

Voicing its concern over the rise in government officials accused of accepting bribes and then walking free, the Bombay High Court on Friday came down heavily on the Maharashtra government.

The HC expressed its dissatisfaction over the manner in which the government dealt with a bribery case pertaining to the alleged constable recruitment scam in Pune.

The Division Bench of Justice Rajendra Savant and Justice Sadhana Jadhav heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a Pune-based activist. The petition intended to highlight the inaction of the government in taking some coercive action against MB Chenigunde, the Principal, who was responsible to look into the recruitment process.

According to the petitioner, Chenigunde demanded bribes from candidates for their selection. The judges were informed that the government did not initiate any action against Chenigunde till July 25, when a departmental enquiry report was served upon him. The advocate for the petitioner told the judges that this action was taken only after another Division Bench of Justice Abhay Oka had issued strict directions.

After perusing the report, Justice Jadhav noted that Chenigunge would be retiring on July 31. Irked by this, Justice Jadhav said, “This is not the way to handle such serious cases. We want an explanation as to why was he not suspended during the departmental inquiry.”

“You (government) were aware that he was going to retire on July 31, so you filed that departmental inquiry report. That too, is just an eye wash to save him. Prima facie, we are not at all satisfied by the report or the inquiry conducted so far,” Justice Jadhav said.

The judges also expressed that there must be some mechanism to curb down the rise in government officials accepting bribes. “There must be some deterrence to curb down the rising number of such cases. There must be some mechanism in place to look into such instances,” Justice Jadhav added.

Posting the matter for further hearing on August 4, the judges have asked the government to take action.