Rajasthan HC allows ACB to act against former minister in single-lease case

Jaipur, Nov 1 (IANS) The Rajasthan High Court has granted the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) permission to take action against former state Minister Shanti Dhariwal in the single-lease case, reopening a matter that once saw the Gehlot government clearing his name.

The court has now paved the way for hearing the pending protest petitions challenging the ACB’s closure report. The next hearing is set for December 5.

Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma issued the order on Dhariwal’s petition. The court clarified that the pending protest petitions against the ACB’s closure report must be decided by the trial court, and that judicial proceedings cannot be halted.

In court, government representatives, including ASG S.V. Raju, AAG Shiv Mangal Sharma, and advocate Sonali Gaur, argued that Dhariwal’s petition was not maintainable, noting that no charge sheet had been filed and that protest petitions were already pending before the ACB court.

Dhariwal’s counsel countered that the former minister had been named in the initial complaint but later given a clean chit after a thorough investigation in 2019.

The defence maintained that Dhariwal was entitled to seek relief from the High Court after the trial court rejected the closure report.

With the latest order, the ACB can now reinvestigate the case, and Dhariwal may once again be called for questioning.

The matter has a long trail. The single lease in question was issued by the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) on June 29, 2011, to Shailendra Garg of Ganpati Construction.

Following a complaint by Ramsharan Singh in 2013, several officials — including then-ACS G.S. Sandhu, Deputy Secretary Nishkam Diwakar, and Zone Deputy Commissioner Omkarmal Saini — were arrested, and a challan was filed. The lease was later cancelled in May 2013.

The Vasundhara Raje government had filed the case in 2014, but later, under the Gehlot government, the ACB submitted three closure reports, each giving a clean chit to Dhariwal and other officials.

The Supreme Court, in November 2024, had already directed that the Chief Justice personally hear the case, nullifying earlier High Court orders that had dismissed proceedings against the accused. Following that, the High Court has now reopened the path for the ACB’s action.

--IANS

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