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Guj govt: Civil rights organisations to move Shah panel

Civil rights organisations are set to raise the issue of corruption against the Gujarat government before the commission headed by Justice MB Shah, retired judge of the Supreme Court.

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Civil rights organisations are set to raise the issue of corruption against the Gujarat government before the commission headed by Justice MB Shah, retired judge of the Supreme Court.

The commission had given a clean chit to the government last year in most of the cases related to land allocation to industrial houses at throwaway prices, and is now taking up other charges.

People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Citizens for Democracy plan to move an application before the panel, regarding Sujalam Sufalam water distribution scheme, besides the use of planes of private industrial houses by chief minister Narendra Modi.

“We will submit an application before the commission on January 17 raising the issue of Sujalam Sufalam scheme of the government and three committees appointed over it,” said Gautam Thaker of PUCL.

The government had launched the scheme in 2004 to distribute the water of Narmada river across the state. The project is yet to be completed. Opposition parties and activists have alleged that there had been large-scale corruption during its implementation.

To look into the issue, in 2005, a committee headed by the secretary of the water supply department was appointed. In 2006, another panel chaired by the then chief secretary, Manjula Subramanium, was formed. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also probed the matter.

Activists allege that two of the three committees had concluded that large-scale corruption had happened and criminal cases should be filed. “All three committees have submitted their reports but the government has not made them public by even placing it before the assembly,” Thaker said, adding, “We have learnt that the CS-headed committee and the PAC have smelt corruption in the scheme.”

“We will demand that access to the reports be given to the commission and to us by moving an application on January 17,” he declared.

In August 2011, the state government had constituted the Justice MB Shah Inquiry Commission to probe the 15 charges of corruption levelled by the Congress by giving a memorandum to the President.

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