Warrant against Gujarat minister Parshottam Solanki in fisheries scam

Legal trouble mounted for fisheries minister Parshottam Solanki after a special anti-corruption court in Gandhinagar issued a warrant against him.

The warrant issued on Friday was a result of Solanki's continuous lack of presence before the court in connection with the Rs 400-crore fisheries scam.

Earlier on December 21, the Gujarat high court had asked the minister to appear before the trial court within a fortnight. The high court's order came after it refused to quash the criminal proceedings against Solankiand Cabinet minister Dileep Sanghani.

The court had at that time refused to entertain the argument of Solanki that public interest will suffer if a sitting minister of a state is prosecuted and that the complaint has been filed against him with mala fide intention. During the pronouncement of the judgment, the high court had remarked that even if it is assumed that the complainant has filed the complaint due to personal animosity, it cannot be a ground to discard the same containing serious allegations.

The high court in its order had stated that in case an accused did not appear before a court, the non-bailable warrant issued in 2016 against the two should be converted into bailable warrant of Rs 25,000.

Despite the HC's order, Solanki did not appear before the court following which complainant Ishaq Maradia' moved another application before the special court which issued the warrant against Solanki. He has been asked to appear by March 2.

The case dates back to 2008 when Solanki, the then MoS for fisheries, granted fishing contracts to 58 reservoirs, without following the mandatory auctioning process, resulting in a loss of Rs 400 crore to the government exchequer.

The complainant Ishak Maredia had alleged that Solanki had done so for personal monetary benefits causing a huge loss to the government exchequer. Maredia has been fighting tooth and nail in a long drawn legal battle to get the ministers tried for the alleged offences, in which the state government tried its best to protect the duo.

CASE FILE 

The case dates back to 2008 when Solanki, the then MoS for fisheries, granted fishing contracts to 58 reservoirs, without following the auctioning process, resulting in a loss of Rs 400 cr to the government exchequer.