Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa Lokayukta Justice Ambadas Joshi has sent a special report to the Governor against the decision of Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant not to register an FIR against Cumbharjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar in the disproportionate assets case.
In his special report sent on June 23 under Section 16 (3) of the Lokayukta Act, the Lokayukta while seeking action as deemed appropriate has drawn the attention of the Governor that the Chief Minister has not given reasons or justification for not accepting the report of the Lokayukta which had directed that an FIR be registered against Madkaikar on the basis of the complaint filed by Adv Aires Rodrigues in the alleged disproportionate assets case.
While directing the Chief Secretary and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register an FIR against Madkaikar, the then Lokayukta Justice P K Misra on September 15 last year in his 15-page order also observed that the then Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma and the then SP (ACB) Priyanka Kashyap had failed in discharging their duty in accordance with law. Stating that appropriate punishment was required to be imposed on Kashyap, the Lokayukta directed that suo motu proceedings be initiated against her for gross dereliction of duty.
After holding a preliminary inquiry into the complaint filed by Rodrigues, the Lokayukta in his order held that reasonable grounds exist for conducting a detailed investigation while also observing that after going through all the material on record it could not be said that the complaint filed by Rodrigues against Madkaikar was frivolous or vexatious.
Rodrigues on June 7, 2018 had filed a complaint with the Lokayukta over the inaction of the ACB in probing the complaint filed by him against Madkaikar. Pointing out that Madkaikar’s Nikitasha Realtors Pvt Ltd had on April 1, 2017 inaugurated a palacial bungalow at Old Goa estimated to have cost around crores of rupees, Rodrigues had demanded that the ACB register an FIR under Sections 13(1) (d) and (e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and Section 120-B of Indian Penal Code against Madkaikar and his wife Old Goa sarpanch Janita Madkaikar and to speedily investigate the case.
