Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh government
Friday said the Special Investigating Cell (SIC) probing the multi-crore public distribution system scam in the state is under direct control of the Gauhati High Court.
Since it is under the direct control of the High Court
the state government has nothing to say on its functioning,
Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu said while responding to a
question raised in the Assembly by Trinamool Congress MLA Tani
Loffa during the question hour.
"The SIC was constituted in 2005 by the state government
and the court has empowered it to probe into the scam
independently," Khandu informed adding, 31 fresh cases have
been registered with the cell while eight were under
sub-judice and investigations are on in 14 cases.
The SIC probing the scam consists of a team of 17
officers, including a Superintendent of Police, two Deputy SP,
five inspectors, three sub-inspectors and six constables.
Loffa also drew the attention of the House on the alleged corruption by SIC head M S Chauhan.
Responding to a calling attention motion raised by NCP
MLA Bamang Felix, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jarbom Gamlin
clarified that the state government has nothing to do with the
arrest of ex-chief minister Gegong Apang for his alleged
involvement in the scam.
Gamlin said the arrest was made by SIC on the High Court
directives and the state government was not responsible in any
way as alleged by various community based organisations.
"A few organisations are trying to give a political
colour to his (Apang) arrest... Our government is willing to
hand over the PDS scam to CBI if court permits. The state
government has no role in the scam and arrest of Apang," he
added.
PTI
