PANKAJ KUMAR Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Serious allegations of misappropriation of funds earmarked for payment of scholarship to students belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, running into several hundred crores, are under investigation by a Special Investigation Team headed by Dr. T.C. Manju Nath, Senior Superintendent of Police, with respect to two districts of the State of Uttarakhand i.e. Dehradun and Haridwar. The petitioner in WPPIL No. 228 of 2018 has alleged collusion between several colleges, middlemen and officers of the Social Welfare Department in depriving students, belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, of the scholarship amounts to which they were entitled, and the funds earmarked for payment of scholarships to them being misappropriated, which, according to the petitioner, exceeds Rs. 500 Crores, and extends not only to the entire State of Uttarakhand, but to five other States of U.P., J and K, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. Copies of agreements, allegedly entered into between private colleges and middlemen agreeing to share the loot in the ratio of 60:40, are enclosed along with WPPIL No. 228 of 2018. In such circumstances, this Court had directed the Special Investigation Team, headed by Dr. T.C. Manju Nath, to submit periodical reports to this Court, regarding progress of investigation, with a view to ensure that no impediment is caused to the free and fair investigation into this scam of monumental proportions, and for its early completion.

(2.) In his affidavit dated 20.08.2019, submitted to this Court in WPPIL No. 228 of 2018, Dr. T.C. Manju Nath has stated as under:-

(3.) The Investigating Officer expresses his inability to proceed further against the 10th respondent who is the District Welfare Officer, Haridwar, in the light of the observations of the National Commission for Schedule Tribes in its letter dated 02.07.2019 informing the Secretary (Home), the Secretary, Social Welfare Department, the Director General of Police, and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Haridwar that the Chairman of the National Commission for Schedule Tribes desires that no action shall be taken against the 10th respondent as the matter is under examination by the National Commission for Schedule Tribes.