PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has questioned why the Department of Panchayats continues to keep its NOC process offline when several other government departments have already moved to online systems.
The sharp observations came during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation-Writ Petition on Wednesday, as the Division Bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsandekar sought the original records relating to the sanction of Rs 12.76 lakh for a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) at Rachol.
The Department of Panchayats told the Court that it had located the file concerning sanction of the grant, but was still trying to trace the four-year-old file containing records relating to the project.
“This is the reason why... NOCs in some departments, like Health and Electricity, are done online. But this department (Panchayat) does not switch to an online system,” the Court observed.
The Court questioned the department’s reluctance to switch to online functioning. “If it had to, the software would have the data and details. Online systems are for transparency, but to avoid this transparency, the Department of Panchayats has not gone online,” it added.
The concern over the offline system came amid questions over how the Rachol MRF project was sanctioned when the file available with the department apparently contained little more than the amount approved.
“How is the approval done? There are no dimensions or other details except the amount,” the Bench questioned, directing the department’s counsel to examine the file in Court and prepare a precise sequence of events.
“You cannot say, ‘I can’t find the file,” the Court slammed.
The Bench also sought to know the government’s claim that the file had been sent to the Block Development Office (BDO). “How can it be with the BDO? The file has to be with the Block Development Office (BDO) or the head of the department,” it asked, directing the BDO to produce the original file during the hearing adjourned the same afternoon.
The PIL, filed by Querobino Gomes and four others, alleged discrepancies in expenditure incurred by the Rachol Panchayat for the waste processing shed. The petitioners questioned the area actually used for the shed vis-à-vis the area for which expenditure was sanctioned and alleged that more than Rs 12 lakh was spent despite the facility allegedly being constructed over a smaller area.
The petition also raised doubts whether the Panchayat records clearly establish the land identified for the facility and the manner in which the funds were sanctioned and disbursed.
The Bench had, on Tuesday, directed the Director of Panchayats to produce the original files relating to the sanction, approval and expenditure for the MRF for examination.
