New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (February 27) quashed criminal proceedings initiated against former Gujarat minister Dileepbhai Nanubhai Sanghani in an alleged Rs 400 crore fisheries scam in 2008 when Parshottam Solanki was the minister of state for fisheries and Sanghani was the state cabinet minister for agriculture in Gujarat.
A bench comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran delivered the verdict on a plea filed by Sanghani challenging the Gujarat High Court order refusing to quash criminal proceedings initiated against him.
The High Court upheld a special anti-corruption bureau (ACB) court order dated March 12, 2021 rejecting their discharge applications in the case.
What did the apex court say?
The apex court bench quashed proceedings against Sanghani saying there is not even an iota of material available to attract the ingredients of the provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
“We accept the contention raised by the appellant that there is not even an iota of material available from the investigation report, the pre-charge statements recorded from the complainant or the police officers or even the statements of persons questioned by the investigation team, as available in the report, to attract the ingredients of the provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act,” the apex court said.
“We are of the opinion that the discharge application of the appellant ought to have been allowed by the Special Court especially since there is not even an allegation of demand and acceptance of bribe, by the second accused/appellant,” the apex court added.
What was the allegation?
The allegation was that with intent to obtain illegal gratification, fishing contracts in the reservoirs vested with the State of Gujarat were allotted without following the policy of the state government, mandating tender proceedings.
Complainant moved the High Court
Ishaq Maradia – the complainant, engaged in trading of fish – had moved the High Court that Solanki allotted fishing contracts in violation of rules without following the tendering process.
Solanki previously claimed that the contracts of fisheries was granted by Sanghani as he was then designated as the cabinet minister.
The complainant moved the High Court after the Gujarat government did not grant sanctions to prosecute Solanki.
The sanction, however, was granted by the then Gujarat Governor, who overruled the state cabinet and sanctioned the prosecution of Solanki under the Prevention of Corruption Act on July 30, 2012.
Complainant Maradia then moved an application before the ACB court seeking action against Solanki and Sanghani under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A case was registered against Solanki and Sanghani
A case was registered against Solanki and Sanghani, following which the Gandhinagar ACB court had asked the ACB in May 2013 to probe the allegations and submit a report. The report was submitted by the ACB submitted its report before the court in 2015, indicating irregularities in awarding the contracts of fisheries, news agency PTI reported.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Sanghani, denied before the apex court any such allegation of demand or acceptance of the bribe against Sanghani for the purpose of issuing the grants either in the investigation report or in the statements recorded from the persons questioned by the investigating team.
