MARGAO
The fate of Minister in the BJP government, Mauvin Godinho, charged in the alleged power rebate scam case during his stint as the State’s Power Minister, will be decided on June 30.
Even as the Court of Additional Sessions Judge Vincent D’Silva has capped arguments in the plea filed by Mauvin and others for discharge in the case, government lawyer, Public Prosecutor, D Korgaonkar reiterated his plea that the discharge application filed by Minister Mauvin and other accused persons in the case is not maintainable. The public prosecutor reiterated his submissions made in his written reply to the court, saying the applications filed for discharge are bad in law, not maintainable and deserved to be dismissed.
When arguments in the matter resumed before South Goa Additional Sessions Judge, Vincent D’Silva on Thursday, lawyer representing Minister Mauvin Godinho, Adv Arun Braz De Sa argued that the case filed by the investigation agency has no legally admissible evidence. He further pointed out to the Court that the Court has every power to stop the proceedings in the case. He drew attention of the Court to a ruling wherein the courts have held that the proceedings can be stopped at any stage of the trial.
Stressing that the investigating agency had re-investigated the case when the order was for further investigations, Adv Arun said the absence of the closure report in the chargesheet only goes to show that what the investigating agency had carried out was re-investigation and not further investigations.
In his arguments, Public Prosecutor D Korgaonkar submitted that all the required procedures were followed by the court, pointing out that the court had issued an order for further investigations in the case.
He drew attention of the judge to the order of the JMFC, Panaji directing the investigating agency for further investigations, while asserting that the applications filed for discharge by the accused persons are not maintainable.
On the argument advanced by former Chief Electrical Engineer, T Nagarajan that no sanction was obtained by the investigating agency before prosecuting him in the case, the Public Prosecutor submitted there was no question of obtaining sanction to prosecute the former CEE on the ground that the accused had retired when the chargesheet was filed in the court.
In his argument, the former CEE Nagarajan pointed out that the Indian Electricity Act mandates prior sanction for prosecution of a power official. When Judge Vincent pointed out that the investigating agency had not charged him under the Indian Electricity Act, but under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Nagarajan submitted that he had issued the notifications under the Indian Electricity Act.
