- NET Web Desk
The Meghalaya High Court has directed the Home Secretary to submit a report on the measures undertaken over illicit procurement of vehicles by police officials.
It also sought to know if any arrest was made against those who were prima facie found to be involved in the police vehicle racket to remove their assets or funds.
“Such report should be filed when the matter appears next on October 17,” Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh said in an order on Friday while hearing a PIL on the alleged illegal procurement of vehicles by officials of the Police department in the recent past.
The petitioners alleged that 29 official vehicles were in the personal custody of the former Assistant Inspector General (Administration) of the Meghalaya Police; and various vehicles had been acquired by the Police department since 2019 without receiving any legal authorization from the appropriate authority.
They believed that despite the uproar that followed the incident and the possibility that some semblance of an investigation had been initiated; and what’s worse, they believed that no action had been taken against those responsible or to recover the clearly wasted public funds.
In response, the state’s counsel informed that an investigation had been done to look into the situation, and that certain people who had evidence supporting their case could face prosecution.
“Unfortunately, the greater scam in this country is not in the scams themselves, but in the inquiries that follow the scams. More often than not, tonnes of paper are wasted to bury the truth and seldom have the guilty been taken to task or any attempt made to recover the public money that was wasted. It is hoped that this particular matter does not travel the same established route,” – the bench said.
