Haryana IAS officer moves HC against FIR sanction in corruption case

Chandigarh: Senior Haryana IAS officer D Suresh, who faces allegations of causing financial loss to Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) in reassigning a school site in Gurgaon, has approached Punjab and Haryana high court challenging the move to implicate him in the case.Suresh, a 1995-batch officer currently serving as principal resident commissioner at Haryana Bhawan in New Delhi, has sought directions to quash a Feb 2 letter that authorized registration of an FIR under multiple provisions, including criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, and sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.An inquiry was initiated in Nov 2019 by Haryana vigilance bureau, when Suresh was posted as chief administrator of HSVP in Panchkula. The probe involved several officials and private individuals and was linked to a dispute over allotment of plot number 4377 in Gurgaon Sector-23 for a school.The District Consumer Forum had earlier ruled in favour of the allottees but it was reversed by State Consumer Forum.According to Suresh's plea, govt initiated three inquiries against HSVP officers, of which the one dated Nov 25, 2019, was against him and eight others. He submitted that he has already filed a petition ‘assailing the inquiry report of the state' and it's pending before HC. According to his plea, the state ordered an FIR against him besides many other officials on Feb 2.Suresh's main contention is that the Nov 25 enquiry was conducted without complying with mandate of Section 17A of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 read with SOP framed by Union govt and adopted by Haryana. The state should have sought separate sanction if more than one officer was found to be involved in an offence, he argued, adding that govt has not complied with Section 17A after completing enquiry and while granting sanction to register FIR.When the matter came up for hearing before the bench of Justice Jagmohan Bansal recently, Haryana govt sought additional time to respond to the contentions raised by the IAS officer.