TURA, Aug 12 - A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in Meghalaya High Court against Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) on the alleged misuse of Rs 100.71 crore of funds provided under Special Plan Assistance (SPA) by Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MTA).
Under SPA, GHADC had been sanctioned a total of Rs 100.71 crore out of which Rs 69.21 crore was released as first tranche for the implementation of 1,167 projects under GHADC in 29 constituencies. The release was for the year 2015-2016.
The PIL was filed on Friday by Nilberth Ch Marak (Dingnen) of Williamnagar in East Garo Hills. He had earlier raised the matter of non-utilisation and corruption of MDC schemes implemented under Williamnagar constituency under Denang T Sangma. He had even written to MTA on the matter but no action was taken.
The respondent had sought a National Level Monitoring Team (NLMT) to visit Garo Hills to verify the extent of project implementation and for punishment to those responsible for large scale corruption.
�I had tried to get this through to MTA on April 17, 2018, but they did not respond. Therefore I was left with no choice but to approach the Court through a PIL,� said Nilberth. The matter has been listed as the first item for Monday by the High Court.
The PIL has raised the issue of fake villages being created to divert funds as well as non-completion of projects, though shown as completed and UCs issued.
In Williamnagar constituency, the PIL states that out of 46 projects, 15 were not implemented at all while 13 were partially done.
Further one of the villages, for which work was sanctioned � a footpath (in Cherupara), is not even a village within Williamnagar constituency.
The PIL has sought the Court to allow for an inquiry by CBI or any other independent investigation agency and also sought strict action on the findings of the inquiry.
