MANISH KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF U.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We have heard Dr. C.P. Upadhyay, along with Shri Kumar Gaurav, learned counsel for the petitioners and Shri Rajesh Kumar Madhesia, learned State Law Officer, for the State-respondents.

(2.) The present petitions have arisen from the impugned First Information Report dtd. 21/8/2023, registered as Case Crime No.178 of 2023, under Sec. 409, 419, 420 IPC at Police Station- Sujanganj, District Jaunpur, in which the petitioners, namely Manish Kumar Singh, Smt. Pushpa Devi, Jawahar Lal and Vinod Kumar Saroj have been arrayed as accused along with one Sanjay Kumar Chauhan- who has not come before this Court. The petitioners are aggrieved by the registration of the impugned FIR and, therefore, approached this Court with twofold prayers: (i) quashing the impugned FIR and (ii) a stay of arrest.

(3.) The prosecution case is that on the complaint of some public representatives, the District Administration noticed certain irregularities in constructing Amrit Sarovar in District Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh- A Central Government initiative to construct ponds in rural areas of India. On receipt of a complaint (reference may be invited to Annexure-5) of the Project Director, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), District Jaunpur, a three-member committee comprising (i) Project Director, DRDA (ii) Assistant Engineer, Minor Irrigation Department (iii) Mining Inspector was constituted to look into the irregularities flagged in the preliminary enquiry. The Project Director completed the inquiry and observed that the then-concerned Secretary, Pradhan, Assistant Programme Officer (APO), Lekhakar and Rojgar Sewak were found involved in the execution of work amounting to Rs.15,57,790.00 in defiance of the provisions of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA). Based on the finding of the Inquiry Committee dtd. 19/8/2023, the impugned FIR was registered against the petitioners.