I-T dept's role in fodder scam upsets apex court

The central government found itself in a dilemma in the Supreme Court yesterday when two of its arms were at loggerheads on their attitude towards one of the key witnesses and approver in the multi-crore fodder scam case of Bihar.

While the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had let Dipesh Chandak, bulk fodder supplier, off the hook for turning approver in its favour, the income-tax department is after him for filing false returns regarding the fodder transactions.

If Chandak stands trial for filing false returns, the immunity guaranteed by the CBI will be of little value to him. The income-tax proceedings were initiated 16 months after the CBI got him in his favour in 1998.

He had moved the apex court against the income-tax proceedings nearly two years ago, but the previous government had repeatedly submitted that the CBI and the I-T department would come up with a joint formula to solve the tangle. The court had granted more than 10 adjournments on the promise of the then solicitor-general and the CBI counsel.

Now the central government has changed, and the income-tax department apparently wants to pursue the case against Chandak. If they insist on chasing him, he would shut up and the CBI will lose the key witness in the fodder scam case. The main accused persons, now in power, will go scot-free.

When a Bench comprising Justice SN Variava and Justice AK Mathur took up the matter in the afternoon for the final hearing, they showed their displeasure at the attitude of the government, with one of its wings pitted against the other.

They hinted in their observations that someone high and mighty in the present government might be interested in losing the key witness in the scam.

While reserving their order, they told the new additional solicitor-general and the CBI counsel to make up their mind soon about the government's stand, or else they would make remarks in their judgment about its shifting stand benefiting certain powerful accused in the scam.