Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 4 : High Court has exonerated the former General Manager and Deputy General Manager of J&K Project Construction Corporation (JKPCC) from the corruption charges framed against them by the trial court.
Both the officials GM Dalip Thusu and DGM Harkewal Singh were held responsible for hatching conspiracy in collapse of a bridge and accordingly charges were framed against them by the Special Court Anti-Corruption in the year 2022.
“It is not the case of the prosecution that the petitioners have obtained any benefit for themselves due to their illegal acts and omissions as enumerated in the chargesheet. In the face of these circumstances, it cannot be stated that the charge for offence under Section 5(1)(d) of PC Act is made out against the petitioners. The material on record, at best, shows that the petitioners have not adhered to the departmental norms and technical guidelines while executing the project”, Justice Sanjay Dhar said.
Justice Dhar while holding the charges framed against the petitioner as unsustainable said, the prosecution records reveal only violation of technical guidelines as also the departmental and procedural norms on the part of the petitioners. “The prosecution has failed to collect any material to show that the petitioners did so with dishonest intention with a view to obtain for themselves or any other person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage”, read the judgment.
The court while exonerating both the petitioners from corruption charges said that even if the material collected by the investigating agency against the petitioners is taken to be correct at its face value and the allegations made in the charge-sheet are also accepted as correct, still then, the charges for offences under Section (5)(1)(c) & (d) of PC Act, or for that matter, any other charge are not made out against them
“Their non-adherence to the procedures and technical guidelines can, at best, give rise to a cause for initiating a regular departmental enquiry against them, but not a criminal prosecution. The Special Judge, while passing the impugned order, has not gone into these aspects of the case, thereby falling into grave error while framing charges against the petitioners”, read the judgment.
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