STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Justice Sanjay Dhar of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court today upheld order of Special Judge, Anti-corruption (CBI Cases), Kashmir, Srinagar, whereby charges for offences under Section 120-B read with Section 420 RPC and Section 4-H read with Sections 5(2) and Section 5(1)(d) of J&K Prevention of Corruption Act have been framed against Ram Gopal Meena XEN CPWD and the co-accused.
While dismissing the petition, Justice Sanjay Dhar observed that mere omission to make mention of a particular offence, though allegations contained in the sanction order constitute such offence, would not make the order of sanction illegal. As per the prosecution case, the FIR was lodged on the basis of preliminary enquiry conducted by the respondents into the allegations that the petitioner, who was posted as Executive Engineer, CPWD, at the relevant time, along with the co-accused had entered into a criminal conspiracy with the contractor M/s Sheikh Sons to cause wrongful loss to the state exchequer and corresponding wrongful gain to others in the contract for construction of boundary wall of 9.1 Km for Central University, Kashmir, at Ganderbal. It was alleged that the wrongful loss to the state exchequer was caused to the tune of Rs.3.4 crore with corresponding gain to the accused. According to the prosecution case, during the year 2013, the Central University, Kashmir, had approached the CPWD, Central Division, Humhama, for the work of construction of boundary wall around the land of the University. A preliminary estimate was prepared by the CPWD which was approved by the competent authority of the University by according administrative approval for an amount of Rs.11,84,87,000 vide its letter dated 14.01.2013. On receipt of administrative approval and expenditure sanction from the University, the petitioner who was posted as Executive Engineer at the relevant time with CPWD, Srinagar, prepared the estimate of the work and the same was processed in the office of the Chief Engineer, Central Zone, Jammu, for accord of technical sanction of the competent authority. After the technical sanction by the Chief Engineer, NIT regarding construction of boundary wall was approved for an amount of Rs.11,47,51,471 and the tenders were invited. The tender of M/s Sheikh Sons was accepted being the lowest one and an intimation in this regard was given by the petitioner to the contractor M/s Sheikh Sons informing him that his bid for an amount of Rs.9,38,81,717 had been accepted and approved by the Chief Engineer.
According to the prosecution case, the petitioner remained posted as Executive Engineer, CPWD, from 16.07.2012 to 06.12.2013 and he had signed the contract agreement with accused Sheikh Nayeem Ahmad. It was revealed that the work of construction of boundary wall around the land of the Central University at Ganderbal was allotted to M/S Sheikh Sons Prop. Sheikh Mohammad Yaqoob but instead of said person, the contract was signed by accused Sheikh Nayeem Ahmad. According to the prosecution case, the petitioner and other co-accused were in a criminal conspiracy in the execution of the sub-standard work and thereby they caused wrongful loss to the Government exchequer and wrongful gain to the M/s Sheikh Sons.