Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh High Court has asked the state government to depute high-level officers to investigate the complaint of corruption against the collector of Balaghat district, Deepak Arya.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice PK Kaurav gave these directions while disposing of the petition of former MLA Kishor Samrite.
The court said that appropriate action should be taken after considering the complaint of the Samrite as per law.
After redressal of the complaint, the petitioner should also be apprised of the result.
The petition was filed on behalf of Kishor Samrite, former MLA from Lanji assembly of Balaghat district.
Advocate Shivendra Pandey told the court that Deepak Arya, Collector of Balaghat district, gave undue benefits to the sand mafia, liquor contractors. In return they took bribes and illegal gifts.
According to the reports, Arya also built a house worth two crores in his home district Dindori with the proceeds of corruption.
On September 11, 2020, Samrite complained to the Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India due to non-action.
The Cabinet Secretary forwarded it to the Chief Secretary of the Government of Madhya Pradesh and asked for action.
But, the MP government handed over the investigation to the Balaghat collector itself. The Collector wrote a letter to Samarit on 12 October 2020 asking him to present evidence and documents in favor of the complaint, failing to which, the complaint will be dismissed.
Advocate Pandey argued that it is wrong to entrust the investigation of the complaint against the collector to the collector on behalf of the state government.
After the hearing, the court dismissed the petition and directed to get the complaint investigated by another high level officer.
