HC rejects bail plea of four officials in orchard scam

MUMBAI, February 26: State soil conservation officials, along with 190-odd farmers, have allegedly cheated the Maharashtra government to the...

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MUMBAI, February 26: State soil conservation officials, along with 190-odd farmers, have allegedly cheated the Maharashtra government to the tune of around Rs four lakh in an orchard plantation scheme that existed only on paper.

The Bombay High Court today rejected the anticipatory bail applications of the four accused officials and some of the farmers who feared arrest in the near future. They pleaded ignorance in the matter and said irregularities in the plantation scheme, if any, are only due to their “negligence and not any other reason.”

Justice V R Datar did not accept the argument and rejected their bail pleas. He asked the police to expedite the inquiry in this matter. While the accused were represented by advocate Dilip Bhosale, Ranjit Mane and M A Chowdhary, the police counsel was Rajesh Behere. The alleged fraud is perpetrated by government officials in Mohol taluka, Solapur district. The Solapur police are currently investigating the origin of the scam.

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The state government announced thescheme in 1990, whereby it was announced that farmers who will nurture orchards will be granted 100 per cent subsidy for actual cultivation and 75 per cent in other aspects. Around 187 farmers were reportedly given the promised amounts from the government treasury.

However, local legislator Rajan Patil soon complained that farmers had not planted any trees. He said the government officials had prepared bogus budget and records to show the results of the scheme, claims the affidavit filed by the investigating officer.

The main accused in the scheme is the senior clerk in the district soil conservation office, K L Tupalavande, who received the farmers’ application. His duty was to verify the land records of the farmers and also to see if they had made provisions for cultivation of trees. However, Tupalavande, along with three officials, did not conduct any such spot visits. They prepared false documents and secured approval of the collector. In some cases, the collector’s approval was not even soughtbefore disbursing the amount to the farmers. Investigation revealed that necessary paperwork was done only in case of 66 farmers, whereas the rest of the files were missing.

Additional public prosecutor Behere argued that a thorough interrogation of the four government officials can only throw light on the exact modus operandi of the racket in which the government seems to have lost around Rs four lakh. Also, it is not yet clear as to who are the real `beneficiaries’ of the plantation scheme, he added.