Shivangi Prakash-
Published on: September 7, 2021, at 13:47 IST
The Gujarat High Court has quashed a Special Court ruling from 2016 that had rejected the CBI’s closure report in a case of alleged financial irregularities filed against Vipul Mittra, the then-chairman of the Kandla Port Trust.
The Judgement of the CBI Court rejecting the closure report and ordering a new inquiry in a case of alleged financial irregularities of Rs 6 lakh in the purchase of blankets for the Kandla Port Trust between 1998-1999 was judged to be “unsustainable” by Justice Nikhil S Kariel.
Mittra, who is currently the ACS of Panchayat, Rural Housing & Rural Development Department, had challenged a CBI Court order dated September 14, 2016, that set aside the CBI’s closure report after arraigning him as an accused, despite the fact that he was not named as an accused in the FIR filed under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
When he was appointed as deputy chairman of the Kandla Port Trust, the senior official was facing these charges.
The investigation was left wide open for almost 19 years, with the CBI court dismissing the Investigating Officer’s closing suggestions on two occasions.
“It clearly appears that the applicant had been joined as an accused erroneously at the stage of the second closure report, more particularly, without there being any material against the applicant,” the order of the CBI court was quashed and set aside by the High Court.
In its order, the High Court stated that there was a severe lack of certainty as to how the current petitioner was charged as an accused.
Also Read: Gujarat HC holds Amendment in Gujarat Co-op Societies Act unconstitutional