M B Shah panel declines to summon Guj officials in graft case

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Press Trust of India Ahmedabad
Last Updated : Jan 24 2013 | 1:49 AM IST

The panel headed by Supreme Court Justice (retd) M B Shah held its third hearing on the allegations of allotment of land to different industrial houses including Adani Group and Rahejas at throwaway prices by the state government.

Gautam Thakar, member of Citizens for Democracy, an NGO, made a representation today before the commission and requested that Pradeep Sharma and R R Varsani (both former Collectors of Bhuj district) be summoned as witnesses, as most of the land was handed over to Adani Group in Kutch when they were in the office.

"But the Commission has refused to issue summons to them, saying if these are our witnesses then we have to bring them before the commission," Thakar said.

Gujarat government has already initiated investigation against Pradeep Sharma, who is currently on bail, for his alleged involvement in corruption cases.

"The Commission is also not willing to provide us the copies of records which the state government had submitted in support of their claim," Thakar claimed.

However, advocate Bhaskar Tanna appearing for the state government refuted Thakar's charge.

"On June 11, the Commission gave them the opportunity to inspect all the documents we had submitted, within nine days. But nobody turned up for it. Hence today we opposed giving copies to them as they are intending to delay the proceedings," Tanna said.

The inquiry commission was set up on August 17, 2011 after Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhvadia and the Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil submitted a memorandum to the President over alleged instances of corruption.

  

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First Published: Jun 20 2012 | 11:05 PM IST

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