- (1.) PALOK Basu, J. Stones-knives-bul lets by themselves ciq not kill any one, criminals plan their abuse to smash and tear- apart innocents' heads with. Likewise, expending-power with State's administrative-high-ups by itself does not compel ignoring laws-rules for devouring Government funds; treacherous, anti- National and corrupt officials degenerate to do so to quench their insatiable thirst of amassing wealth at the cost of innocent tax-payers. Their cunningly calculated conduct though succeeds in whisking away crores and crores of rupees, yet projects a mirage of bona fide-faithful discharge of duties, thus an enquiry if set up, gets en meshed in procedural delays, managing misdirection's in police investigations, if had begun perchance. At such critical juncture, it does require the genius of the trustworthy and credible Central Bureau of Investigation (C. B. I.) to unearth truth and expose publicly each and every culprit. This is how can be summarised the tragic theme of Ayurvedic-Exes-Payment-Bunch-Cases (Ayurved-Scam-AYUR- VED CHOTALA), the complete narra tion of which is likely to run into several episodes.
(2.) CIVIL Miscellaneous Writ Petition No. 21425 of 1996-Dr. Indra Pal Singh Tomar State of Uttar Pradesh and others, came to be filled before this Court. The petitioner Dr. Tomar was posted as Regional Ayurvedic and Unani Officer (R. A. U. O.) Muzaffar Nagar. An order of the State Government, dated 28-5- 1996 suspending the petitioner in disciplinary proceedings was challenged. It was men tioned that in the Lucknow Bench (L. B.) several interim orders have been passed in 'similar matters' and that some orders have been passed by this Court also follow ing L. B. orders. During arguments it transpired that the matters allegedly con cerned big embezzlement in several Dis tricts in the State of Uttar Pradesh. The learned Standing Counsel informed the Court that several matters are pending in L. B. and this Court also in which interim orders have been passed staying the suspension of the petitioners therein. It was also stated that arrest of several ac cused in several cases where First Informa tion Reports (EI. Rs.) were lodged by dif ferent officials regarding Ayurved Scam have been stayed by L. B. and this Court also. It was noticed that the EI. Rs. with CIVIL Police or reports to Vigilance Departments were pending investigation by local Police or Economic Offences Wing (E. O. W.) of the State Police or by Vigilance Wing for the last several years. Though the matter related to the financial year 1993-94. No police report of charge-sheet had gone to any court and further that under the action of the State the then Director, Dr. She Raj Singh (S. R. Singh) informant in some earlier cases, was him self made the principal accused. S. R. Singh and other officials connected with the Ayurved Scam have filed Writ Petitions of civil nature and Writ Petitions of criminal nature including applications under Sec tion 482, Cr. P. C. for quashing suspension orders or F. I. R. /investigation respective ly. The aforesaid Writ Petition No. 21425 of 1996 is, therefore, the leading case in this Court in which a running order sheet has been maintained. Then came to light what has been described as the "blanket-interim-order" in favour of S. R. Singh in Writ Petition No. 2025 of 1996 in which application on be half of the State was pending disposal by which it has been prayed that the said interim order be immediately vacated so that investigation may proceed on the right lines and S. R. Singh may be proceeded with according to law. That ap plication also had not come up for orders before any court. S. R. Singh has himself prayed that investigations be done by C. B. I. Incidentally it may be mentioned that S. R. Singh has been successful in ob taining interim orders from the L. B. from time to time and also from the learned Single Judge of this Court mentioned ear lier. Each one of the orders in the respec tive petitions shall have to be dealt with independently, for, it has been argued that any and all actions of the State against S. R. Singh is the outcome of the orders he obtained from the L. B. It may also be mentioned that S. R. Singh's other criticism was that Shri Mohinder Singh, Principal Secretary in the State Govern ment is biased and is instrumental in the manipulative actions against him. The al legations in the F. l. R s. prima facie indicate Ayurved Scam involving over Rs. 47,00,00,000 (Rupees Forty-seven Crores ). S. R. Singh did lodged some. F. I. Rs. against some R. A. U. Os. and Medical Officers (M. Os.) alleging that those R. A. U. Os. and M. Os. were responsible for some withdrawals which' were more than allocated budget for their respective units of expenditure. In the subsequent F. I. R. of the State against S. R. Singh as mentioned above, S. R. Singh himself has been described as the Chief-Conspirator in facilitating the aforesaid Ayurved Scam.
(3.) LOOKING at the fact that several writ petitions of S. R. Singh were pending in the L. B. and some were pending in this Court and further that writ petitions of several R. A. U. Os. and M. Os. were pending either in L. B. or this Court, the State moved an application before the Hon'ble the Chief Justice for nominating a Bench for dispos ing of the matter simultaneously, whether it was pending in this Court or in the L. B. It may be mentioned that some of the mat ters have been noted as cognizable by Single Judges while some by Division Bench under the Rules of the Court. The Hon'ble the Chief Justice has passed an order under which this Court has been asked to hear the matters at their places of filing and decide them. This is how the matters have been heard by this Court here as well as in the Lucknow Bench (L. B.) in alternate weeks. Looking at the fact that though the Ayurved Scam has become more than two years old. It looked strange that no police report nor charge-sheet had been filed against any one by the Police. It was also apparent that while some F. I. Rs. came to be lodged at the instance of S. R. Singh, may be because the Government till then believed him, the subsequent lodging of F. I. R. by the State Government against S. R. Singh himself as the principal con spirator in the Ayurved Scam led this Court to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India in order to direct that the entire Ayurved Scam of 1993-94 be investigated by the C. B. I. Suitable directions were issued by this Court on 10-7-1996, in pursuance whereof the Registrar forwarded a letter to the Director, C. B. I. As a follow-up measure the State Government also issued Notifications for referring the matter for investigation by the C. B. I. It may further be mentioned here that the C. B. I. has com menced investigation and its third report submitted in 26-9-1996 has indicated collection of materials and has reported that vital links have been found concerning the conspiracy and there were materials to justify the allegations regarding which the investigations have been directed to be made by the C. B. I. On this report, two months further time has been allowed to the C. B. I, to complete the investigations because papers/documents seized by it are voluminous indeed. This direction to com plete the investigations and submit its report to this Court was expressed in the following terms: "sri Jamwar states that the report of the C. B. I, shall be furnished before this Court within two months. Irrespective of the decisions in the writ petitions heard at Lucknow or at Allahabad which may or may not be delivered in the meantime, the C. B. I, is directed to submit its next report before this Court on 26- 11-1996 at Allahabad. ";