Senior Haryana IAS officer D Suresh (IAS:1995:HY) has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the state govt’s sanction to register an FIR against him in a corruption case.
Currently posted as Principal Resident Commissioner at Haryana Bhawan in New Delhi, Suresh faces allegations of causing financial loss to Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) by reassigning a school site in Gurgaon.
Suresh has sought the court’s directions to quash a letter authorizing registration of an FIR against him under various provisions of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Haryana Vigilance Bureau had initiated an inquiry against him in Nov 2019 when he was posted as HSVP’s Chief Administrator in Panchkula. The probe related to a dispute over the allotment of a plot in Gurgaon Sector-23 for a school.
According to Suresh, the state govt initiated three inquiries against HSVP officers, one of which was against him and eight others. His contention is that he has already filed a petition against the ‘inquiry report of the state,’ and it’s pending before the HC. Yet the state govt ordered the registration of an FIR against him and other officials on Feb 2.
He has argued that the inquiry was conducted without complying with the mandate of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, read with the SOP framed by Union govt and adopted by Haryana.
So, he has now contended that the state should have sought separate sanction if more than one officer was found to be involved in an offence, adding that govt has not complied with Section 17A after completing the inquiry and while granting sanction to register FIR.
The state govt sought additional time to respond to the contentions raised by Suresh when the matter came up for hearing before Justice Jagmohan Bansal recently.
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