The Maharashtra government today informed the Bombay High Court that the governor has decided not to appoint any additional members on Madhav Chitale Committee, which is probing the alleged Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam.
A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha had on June 24 sought the governor's response on whether he would appoint new members to the panel as demanded by a petitioner.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by a social worker Uttamrao Ghatule seeking appointment of an experts committee headed by a retired judge to probe the scam or hand it over to CBI.
Ghatule's lawyer Machchindra Patil argued that the four-member Chitale Committee, appointed in December 2012, has no independent members.
The panel comprises water expert Madhav Chitale, A K D Jadhav from the state finance department, retired commissioner of agriculture Krishna Lavekar and V M Ranade, retired secretary in the state irrigation department.
Advocate General Darius Khambata today told the court that governor has decided not to appoint more members on the committee.
"The committee has already collected all information and will now be visiting the sites. A report should be submitted by December 31," Khambata said.
The court then disposed of the PIL.
Ghatule had alleged that over the last ten years only 1-2 per cent of the allocated funds for irrigation have been utilised for the sanctioned purpose while the remaining funds to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore have been misappropriated.
Citing an example of the Kukadi dam project near Pune, Ghatule has stated that it was approved in 1966 and in 1980 its cost was Rs 130 crore. However, by 1992 its cost escalated to Rs 240 crore and by Match 2010 to Rs 1,000 crore.
