The Rajasthan Government has set up a committee to investigate single lease cases, chaired by former judge R.S. Rathore. This follows concerns about the previous committee's impartiality. The Bhajanlal government recently cleared several officials in a notable case from 2011, stating no rules were broken. The case, involving a lease to Ganapati Construction, led to arrests and legal proceedings. Despite closure attempts by the ACB, the court rejected withdrawing charges. An SLP in the Supreme Court challenges this decision. The new committee aims to provide an unbiased review of these long-standing cases, potentially impacting future handling of such matters in Rajasthan.
The Rajasthan Government has established a committee to conduct an impartial investigation into single lease cases in the state. Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma directed the formation of this committee, which will be chaired by former judge R.S. Rathore. The committee includes the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department and the Principal Secretary of the Urban Development and Housing Department as members. This action follows concerns about the impartiality of a previous committee set up during the former government's tenure to withdraw court cases related to single lease irregularities.
The inclusion of officials connected to the then-UDH Minister's office in that committee had raised questions about its objectivity. Recently, the Bhajanlal government cleared Congress MLA Shanti Dhariwal and three other officials in a notable single lease case. In a response to the Supreme Court, the government stated that the decade-old single lease case followed all rules and did not result in financial loss to the government. The case dates back to 29 June 2011, when the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) issued a single lease to Shailendra Garg, proprietor of Ganapati Construction. In 2013, Ramsharan Singh filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). This led to the arrest of Garg, then ACS GS Sandhu, Deputy Secretary Nishkam Diwakar, Zone Deputy Commissioner Omkarmal Saini, and two others. The ACB court received a charge sheet against them, and the JDA cancelled the single lease on 25 May 2013 as the dispute increased.
The ACB registered a case on 3 December 2014, during Vasundhara Raje's government, and questioned then UDH Minister Shanti Dhariwal. However, when the Gehlot government came to power in 2018, the ACB presented three closure reports in court, clearing former IAS GS Sandhu, former RAS Nishkam Diwakar, and Omkarmal Saini. The third closure report, submitted on 19 July 2022, requested the withdrawal of charges against the accused, but the court rejected this application. RTI activist Ashok Pathak filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the High Court's order, arguing that a corruption case cannot be closed solely based on the complainant's consent.
The Rajasthan government responded to this SLP on 22 April, stating that there was no case in the single lease matter. However, post-elections, a new committee has been formed to investigate this issue. The formation of this new committee under former judge R.S. Rathore indicates the current government's commitment to thoroughly examine the single lease cases.
This move aims to address concerns about the previous investigation's impartiality and ensure a fair review of the matter. The inclusion of high-ranking officials from relevant departments in the committee suggests a comprehensive approach to the investigation. As the case has been ongoing for over a decade and has seen multiple developments under different state governments, this latest investigation could provide clarity on the allegations of irregularities in the single lease process. The outcome of this committee's findings may have significant implications for the individuals involved and for the broader handling of such cases in Rajasthan.
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