On Tuesday, the High Court of Delhi asked the Centre & the AAP Govt to reply to a Public Interest Litigation seeking Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged misappropriation in the Rs 3,200 crore Cess fund meant for migrant and construction workers in Delhi. A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi & Rajnish Bhatnagar issued notices to the Centre, the Delhi Govt. & Delhi Building & Other Construction Workers (DBOCW) Welfare Board & directed them to respond to the plea by NGO -- PT Deendayal Upadhyay Smriti Sansthan.

The Court, which conducted the hearing through video conferencing, also impleaded Anti Corruption Branch of Delhi Govt as a party in the petition & asked it to file the reply.

It listed the matter for further hearing on July 2.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the NGO, said some incriminating documents showed the alleged rampant corruption by the Delhi government & the welfare board & misutilisation of the Rs 3,200 crore Delhi Building Cess fund by fraudulently giving benefits to non construction workers such as auto drivers, factory workers, tailors & hawkers.

The NGO, also represented through advocates Yogesh Pachauri, R Balaji & Nachiketa Joshi, said each state has its own 'Cess fund' which is collected for the owners/ employers of building & other construction works under the Building & Other Construction Workers (RE & CS) Act, by collecting one per cent on the cost incurred on the project.

Till recently Delhi Cess fund has collected around Rs 3,200 crore. 

The fund was created exclusively for the benefit of registered construction workers.

During the hearing, Delhi government counsel Sanjoy Ghose submitted that the credentials of the organisation need to be verified.

The plea said that during the COVID-19 lockdown, it was announced by the Delhi government that Rs 5,000 per month will be transferred to all the registered construction workers.

However, when the organisation's volunteers enquired, the workers revealed that none of them have received any amount from the Govt, the petition added.

It alleged, "The enquiry revealed that there was rampant corruption in registration of bogus construction workers & concerned authorities have registered non-construction workers as construction workers so that they can misappropriate the Cess fund".

It claimed that there is misappropriation of Rs 3,200 crore Cess fund which is managed by the Delhi Building & Other Construction Workers (DBOCW) Welfare Board due to bogus registration of lakhs of non construction workers as construction workers without any verification & sought CBI probe into the purported large scale corruption.

It alleged that most of these bogus workers are security guards, auto & taxi drivers, factory & shop workers, housewives, maids, tailors & barbers.

The Lawyers said that "It is very shocking how these irregularities & loot are happening by the DBOCW Welfare Board headed by the Minister of Labour, Delhi Govt, who is also the Chairman of Board".

Besides seeking probe by CBI or an independent investigating agency, the organisation, through its president Vinod Kumar Shukla, has urged the court to direct the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) to conduct a detailed statutory audit of the accounts of the board as about Rs 150-200 crore have already been transferred in the bank accounts of non-construction workers who are living in Delhi since long in their own houses.

The plea said around 80 complaints have been lodged at a police station by the officials of the Labour Department & an FIR was registered by the Anti Corruption Branch of Delhi Govt but nothing concrete has been done to stop the loot.

It alleged that the misappropriation of funds has been allegedly done by the dishonest employees of the Board, unions & other middlemen.

Source Link

Picture Source :