Haryana’s Lokayukta, Justice (retd.) Pritam Pal, has turned the heat on the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government — first, by recommending registration of a corruption case against Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ram Krishan Fouji, and now by initiating an enquiry into a complaint against Mr. Hooda regarding misuse of official position to spend crores on media advertisements that made false claims about the government’s achievements.
A deeply-embarrassed government has now asked the Lokayukta to re examine and “reconsider” his recommendation against Mr. Fouji. The recommendation is recommendatory in nature and not binding on the government.
VideoThe matter relates to a video circulated by the opposition Indian National Lok Dal in September in which Mr. Fouji allegedly demanded Rs. 5 crore bribe for change of land use license for a four acre plot in Gurgaon. The video was aired on several television channels. Mr. Fouji , however, maintained that it was doctored with the intent of maligning his reputation,
The Lokayukta recommended the registration of a case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and a probe by a senior police officer of impeccable integrity.
The INLD, which had earlier said it did not have much hope from Justice Pal, has now given him four more CDs of video footage containing similar stings on other senior Congress legislators, including a minister’s son. It has launched a Statewide agitation demanding Mr. Fouji’s recommendation and has accused the State government of “covering up” the issue and “insulting the institution of Lokayukta.”
Ad campaignMeanwhile, Justice Pal has initiated an enquiry into the Chief Minister’s ‘Sabse Aage Haryana’ advertisement campaign, which, according to the complaint by RTI activist P.P. Kapoor, made false claims about the “achievements” of the government.
Mr. Kapoor has reportedly based his complaint on information procured by him through RTI in which he learnt that as against the claim of Rs 20 lakh crore worth of investment and employment for 20 lakh youth since 2005, when Mr. Hooda assumed power, the State has actually attracted investment worth only Rs. 3,179 crore and secured employment for 35,859 persons.
He has quoted information given to him under RTI by the Investment Promotion Centre of the State Industries department.
