In a development that promises to snowball into a major election issue for the first time, Patna High Court has ordered a CBI probe against Nitish Kumar and his colleagues for alleged financial irregularities.
The high court today ordered investigations into irregularities to the tune of Rs 11,412 crore drawn from state treasuries. The amount was drawn between April 1, 2002, and March 31, 2008, by various state departments to implement different schemes. After Nitish became chief minister on November 24, 2005, a large portion of the amount was drawn during his tenure.
Earlier, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had alleged irregularities in implementation of MGNREGS. The Opposition is all set to make this an issue in the run-up to the polls. Responding to a PIL, Chief Justice Rekha M. Doshit and Justice S.K. Katariyar directed the state CBI director, joint director and in-charge to appear on July 26, the next date of hearing.
The PIL filed by Arbind Kumar Sharma, advocate, has named Nitish, his deputy and finance minister Sushil Kumar Modi, as well as several other ministers and IAS officers as respondents.
The PIL was filed on the basis of an audit report from the comptroller and auditor general’s office to the Bihar government two months ago. The audit report objected to pending detailed contingent bills related to the amount.
Earlier, state chief secretary Anup Mukherjee told the court, “Thousands of officials were empowered to draw from the treasuries.” He added that the entire process was “cumbersome” and it was not possible for the government to furnish detailed contingent bills at such a short notice.
Not satisfied with the state government’s reply, the court has ordered a CBI probe into the matter today.