Gujarat minister accused of bribery

GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat’s Fisheries and Port Minister Purushottam Solanki is in the eye of a storm following a case filed in the high court seeking directions to the state government for action against him on bribery charges.

The high court single judge bench presided over by Justice Akhil Kureshi Wednesday issued notice to the government seeking clarity on its stand in the matter. The notice is returnable in three weeks.

The special criminal application has been filed by Isaac Maradia, a resident of Bhagal village in Banaskantha, in the Gujarat High Court alleging corruption by the minister in the allotment of fishing rights for various reservoirs in the state without inviting tenders. These were later cancelled following a Supreme Court order.

Maradia had earlier filed a Public Interest Litigation that led to the cancellation of the contracts last year. He alleged that the minister sought and received Rs.11 crore from 58 contractors for fishing rights to 58 reservoirs. In a letter to the chief secretary in December 2009, Maradia had sought permission for action against the minister and had made it clear that if permission was not forthcoming he would seek judicial intervention.

According to R.J. Mankad, counsel for Maradia, the state government’s permission is necessary to prosecute a minister and therefore the letter. The Fisheries Department, at the behest of the minister had allotted the contracts without inviting tenders in 2008, causing a loss of nearly Rs.44 crore to the state government, he alleged.

The high court’s intervention was sought leading to cancellation of allotment and strictures against the minister. After the Fisheries Department failed to honour the high court’s order, some fishing societies knocked the doors of the Supreme Court. The apex court in December 2008 directed the department to abide by the high court order.

The contracts given in July and August 2008 were cancelled and fresh contracts were issued after inviting tenders. The difference in the amount received by the government following the court intervention came to over Rs.44 crore.

Maradia, in his letter to the chief secretary, attached an affidavit filed by a contractor P.J. Monalji, an office bearer of the Shree Vatrak Jalasay Matsya Udyog Mandali, stating that the minister had demanded Rs.30 lakh from him and another person in July 2008 at Bhavnagar for the fishing contract of the Vatrak Dam.