SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir State Accountability Commission (SAC) has ordered a regular inquiry into graft allegations against a legislator and former minister, Ghulam Mohammed Saroori.
Saroori, of the Congress party, is facing allegations of corruption and misuse of his position as Minister of Roads and Buildings.
A division bench of the Commission comprising chairman Justice (retd) YP Nargotra and Justice (retd) Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain have asked him to respond to a notice within six weeks.
The case has been listed for hearing on July 8, the Press Trust of India reports.
The complainant has submitted photocopies of several documents in support of his charges against Saroori.
“The complainant alleges that during the period the respondent was holding the said portfolio, about 2,000 works were allotted by (his) department without tenders, and that the same being not in accordance with law has caused huge loss to the state exchequer,” the order read.
The bench has observed that Saroori had in the past denied the charges. But they said he could not be absolved “as being the minister-in-charge… He was bound to keep a vigil and control on the working of the department”.
“Going by the number of contracts allotted without inviting tenders, it prima facie appears that getting the works executed without inviting tenders was the norm then to which the respondent was a mute spectator,” the order stated.
