HC discharges PWD Engineer booked in Irrigation Scam related Case

On Tuesday, the High Court of Bombay discharged the then executive engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) from a case related to the state irrigation scam.

Anilkumar Gaikwad, the then executive engineer of presidency division of PWD, was booked by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Sept 2015, along with partners of FA Enterprises - Fateh Mohammed Khatri & his sons Nisar, Jaitun, Aabid & Jahid.

According to Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation doesn't allot any contract to a contractor who has already been awarded 3 dam construction contracts. FA Contractors had 6 works allotted to it & in order to have more irrigation contracts, formed a new firm--FA Enterprises-- & claimed that it was made by directors who resigned from FA Contractors.

Gaikwad is accused of overlooking the rules & forwarding a proposal for registration of FA Enterprises as Class-1A contractor with the Govt. It was alleged that he forwarded the proposal without proper scrutiny of documents submitted by the contractor.

He had moved High Court after the Special Anti-Corruption Bureau Court rejected his discharge plea on March 15, 2019.

Justice AM Badar overruled the Special ACB Court’s order due to lack of evidence against Gaikwad. Justice Badar also took into consideration a Govt Resolution (GR) issued by the PWD on Nov 28, 2018, that exempted all its employees from penal consequences arising out of the scrutiny of documents submitted by contractors.

The Judge said that according to the GR, PWD employees or officials who may be entrusted with the work of checking documents submitted by contractors shall not be held responsible for penal consequences in respect of scrutiny of such documents if those turn out to be false & fabricated.

The Judge said that “As this GR has retrospective effect, continuation of prosecution against the applicant (Gaikwad) which is essentially with an allegation that he has not ascertained veracity & truthfulness of the documents submitted by the FA Enterprises, would certainly amount to abuse of the process of court".

Justice Badar also noted that there was hardly any evidence against the PWD engineer. “Perusal of the entire chargesheet does not reveal iota of evidence for even prima facie demonstration of an offence of criminal misconduct on the part of the applicant,” said justice Badar, exonerating Gaikwad.

The Court also noted that the entire file relating to registration & certification of FA Enterprises as Class-1A Govt. contractor had gone missing & no original document was available to shed light on the entire episode of registration of FA Enterprises. 

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