New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed city police chief Y.S. Dadwal to conduct an independent inquiry into the ‘ghost’ employees scam in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) after allegations that a probe by the civic agency would not be proper.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Madan B. Lokur directed the police commissioner to hold a detailed inquiry into allegations that the civic agency has on its rolls employees who do not exist and said: ‘You (MCD) can’t be judge of your own cause.’
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Jagrook Welfare Society through counsel C.S. Parashar, seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry or an independent agency’s probe into the scam.
After a media report in November, the MCD revealed that there were 22,853 gardeners and sweepers as ‘ghost’ employees on its payrolls and admitted it was an administrative lapse that cost the civic body Rs.17 crore every month.
The court slammed the MCD May 12 for ‘concealing facts’ in its affidavit on money paid to ‘ghost’ employees.
Senior advocate Ravi Shankar Prasad, appearing for MCD, said: ‘The whole confusion peeped (sic) in due to the installation of the biometric system (for attendance) as some of the employees were left out while installation of the system.
‘Our sole motto of installing these biometric system is to bring in transparency,’ Prasad said.
The high court has now directed the police to submit the investigation report within two months and slated the matter for hearing Aug 25.
