“The consent to have an investigation into the alleged misappropriation and diversion of funds for the scheme has been given by the minister concerned (Ministry of Rural Development),” Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising told a bench headed by Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia. The ASG said a notification would be issued in this regard. The Bench asked the Centre to issue a notification within two weeks.
The court directed the Orissa Government to file an affidavit to update it about the level of implementation.
With Panchayat elections due in February next year, the CBI probe could not have come at a worse time for the Naveen Patnaik government.
Already battling serious allegations in the mining scam, the mid-day meal scam and the Vedanta University land deal, Naveen’s image is certain to get a battering in the political arena.
The BJP’s Bijoy Mohapatra and Congress leader in charge of Orissa, Jagdish Tytler, have already announced they will hit the streets. A survey conducted by a New Delhi-based NGO, Centre for Environment and Food Security, between May and June 2007, revealed that in 100 villages of six KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) districts, the NREGS was virtually hijacked by officials implementing the scheme.
Out of the 100 villages surveyed, there was not a single case where entries in the job cards were correct.