Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 17: The State Vigilance Organization (SVO) today booked former Deputy Commissioner, Kupwara Itrat Hussain and four other senior officers for their involvement in Rs 15.11 lakh worth mat scam.
A case was today registered against all five officials by the Vigilance Organization’s Kashmir wing for further investigations.
The officials booked in FIR No. 25/2015 included the then District Development Commissioner Kupwara Itrat Hussain (Chairman District Level Purchase Committee) and other members comprising Mohammad Qasim, the then District Program Officer ICDS Kupwara (Member Secretary), Ghulam Nabi Bhat, the then Treasury Officer Kupwara, Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat, the then Incharge Assistant Director CAPD Kupwara, Dr Aleem, the then CMO Kupwara and Ali Mohammad Mir, the then General Manager DIC Kupwara
According to an official handout issued by the Vigilance Organization Kashmir, the verifications conducted by the Vigilance Organization Kashmir into the allegations of purchase of substandard matting and other furnishing items on highly exorbitant rates during the year 2013-14, confirmed the charges against the officers against whom the FIR has been registered today.
It was the District Level Purchasing Committee (DLPC) Kupwara headed by the then District Development Commissioner Kupwara Itrat Hussain, who happened to be Chairman of the DLPC, which had approved the purchase of different quality of matting as against the advertised excel matting.
It has been found that the Chairman and other members of the DLPC Kupwara in league with each other and the supplier identified as Khurshid Ahmad Malik, a resident of village Vilgam, Handwara had effected purchases of matting (non woven) measuring 30,22,63 square feet at the rate of Rs 17 square feet from the supplier for Anganwari Centres of district Kupwara on exorbitant rates thereby conferring pecuniary benefits to them and the supplier to the tune of Rs 15,11,315 and corresponding loss to the State exchequer.
“The acts of omissions and commissions on the part of these officers including the then Deputy Commissioner, Kupwara and the supplier constituted offences punishable under Sections 5(1) (d) read with Section 5(2) J&K Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B RPC,’’ sources said, adding that a case under these Sections has been registered against the officers.
Meanwhile, the Vigilance Organization, Jammu has registered another case FIR No 19/2015 on the basis of a verification conducted into the allegations for not lifting the allocated quota of rice from Food Corporation of India (FCI) under Wheat Based Nutrition Programme (WBNP) by the officers of Social Welfare Department, Jammu.
Investigations conducted into the case by the Vigilance Organization has revealed that under the WBNP, the concerned CDPOs by misusing their official position did not lift the allotted quota of rice in time during the year 2009-10 as per the schedule from FCI stores and instead purchased the same from the local market at exorbitant rates in various districts of Jammu including Reasi, Udhampur and Poonch, thus, causing a loss of Rs 16, 22,611 to the State exchequer.
The investigation of the case has been taken up by the Vigilance Organization.
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