"Centre to keep eye over it": Calcutta High Court orders CAG to conduct audit on alleged money laundering by state government of funds allocated for flood hit areas

  • Gargi Chatterjee
  • 01:44 PM, 17 Nov 2021

Read Time: 03 minutes

Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj of the Calcutta High Court has directed the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to conduct an audit on the issue of alleged corruption and money laundering of funds allocated for infrastructure development in Maldah and Murshidabad, Calcutta at the wake of 2017 floods. The public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by the victims. 

The Court has also said that while CAG will conduct the probe and the central Government will keep an eye over it and the State Government will have to cooperate in the investigation.

Following the floods in Malda and Murshidabad in 2017, the central government had sanctioned Rs 70,000 for each affected family, but there were widespread allegations that the money didn't reach the flood-hit people.

In 2019, the Court reprimanded the Government wondering whether issuing show-cause notices and asking return of the misappropriated money was enough. The Court also asked as to why no FIR was registered against the guilty.

In another matter, last month the the Calcutta High Court  took suo-moto cognisance of alleged misappropriation of relief material pertaining to Amphan 2020. The Court was adjudicating upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed  alleging embezzlement of government sanctioned Amphan related relief material.

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