New Delhi: A magestrial court hearing a graft case against Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely on Wednesday declined to entertain it further saying it did not have the jurisdiction to hear the matter under anti-corruption law.
Metropolitan Magistrate Neeraj Gaur sent back the case to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav with a request to mark it to an appropriate court, less than a month after he had asked the police to file an action taken report detailing the steps it has taken on the complaint filed by RTI activist Vivek Garg on the issue.
The case relates to alleged corruption in granting fitness certificate to commercial vehicles.
Despite the June 8 order, the police had failed to file the report.
Besides Dikshit, the complaint also names Delhi Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, former Transport Commissioner R K Verma and a company which was granted contract for lane tests of commercial vehicles, M/s ESP India.
The complaint alleges that the Delhi government gave away the contract for lane test of commercial vehicles for fitness certificate to a private firm without inviting any tender.
It also says that "I&C lane test is annually done of all commercial vehicles registered in Delhi. Vehicles which clear this test are given fitness certificates. Earlier the whole process was being done by the Transport Department but now the lane test is done by the said private company for Rs 400 per vehicle, which is not shared with the government.
"After the vehicle clears this test, Transport Department issues a fitness certificate for which a separate fees of Rs 100 is charged from each commercial vehicle."
The complainant told the court that despite the fact premises being used for the lane test by the company belong to the Transport Department and the entire payment for machines and other infrastructure was being made by the government, the revenue generated by the private firm is not shared with the state.
He sought lodging of FIR against Dikshit, Lovely, Verma and the owner of M/s ESP India under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including, section 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life), 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) and criminal conspiracy.
It says they should also be charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
PTI
