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Delhi HC cancels Mayawati's anticipatory bail

The Delhi high court Friday revoked its earlier order granting anticipatory bail to former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary Mayawati in the Rs 36.6 million floating pumps purchase case.

However, it granted her 10 days to obtain relief from an appropriate court.

The high court also rejected Mayawati's demand for quashing the first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case.

The case pertains to the purchase of 143 fire fighting floating pumps during Mayawati's tenure as chief minister, from the Madras-based firm, Fire Challenger, wherein she is alleged to have caused huge financial irregularities.

In a 42-page order, the division bench comprising Justices Devinder Gupta and N G Nandi also imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the BSP general secretary.

''We do not find any ground (in the petition) to quash the FIR. The petition accordingly is dismissed with cost quantified at Rs 10,000. The interim order stands vacated,'' the judges said.

The court had, on April 1, granted Mayawati anticipatory bail while issuing showcause notice to the CBI on her criminal writ petition, which sought the March 18 FIR quashed.

Mayawati was directed to be released on bail, on a Rs 5,000 bond.

The bench said, ''As the interim order has remained in force to date, it is directed that the same will remain in operation for a period of 10 days from today to enable the petitioner to obtain appropriate orders from a competent court of law.''

The BSP leader had approached the high court on March 30, under Section 226 of the Constitution, for quashing the FIR filed under Sections 120 (b), 409, 420, 468, 471 and 477 of the Indian Penal Code, read with Section 13 (1) (a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Mayawati had also prayed that she should not be arrested without a court order.

''There were already complaints against the performance of the earlier purchased pumps. Repeat orders for the quantity ordered could not have been placed under the rules,'' Friday's order said.

''She (Mayawati) also ensured that full payment is made to the supplier during her regime as chief minister," it continued, "Facts were not properly verified regarding the price of the pumps on the date of placing the repeat order despite the fact that complaints were received earlier.''

The CBI's FIR, brought about by a complaint from the Bharatiya Janata Party's UP wing, named nine others: Pritam Singh, UP's former director of industries, J N Chamber, former secretary to the state government in the small industries and export promotion department, Manisha Pawar, former joint secretary in the small industries department, Yashpal Singh, former inspector general of fire services, Prakash Singh, former deputy inspector general in fire services, Daleep Ganga Prasad Karsolia, former deputy director of fire services, O P Sravastava, former director (purchase), and Sevanathan, the proprietor of Fire Challenger.

Mayawati had submitted that the FIR was inspired by political vendetta. It was registered to cause 'unlawful and illegal pressure' on her to vote in favour of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, which was to seek a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on March 28, she claimed.

She contended that the contract was not entered during her regime, that it was made when UP was under President's rule and administered by then governor Moti Lal Vora.

The CBI said the custom department had intimated Mayawati that the United States-made pumps cost Rs 46,743 each. The custom duty on it was Rs 10,283, which brought the total cost of a pump to Rs 57,026. Against this, the Fire Challenger were supplying the pumps at an exorbitant Rs 249,000 per piece.

Mayawati, thus, the CBI charged, had not 'applied her mind' to the matter.

The CBI affidavit, filed by special public prosecutor A K Dutt, stated that the proprietor of Fire Challenger was the president of the BSP's Tamil Nadu unit.

The CBI also alleged that Mayawati had annexed a 'bogus, false and concocted' copy of the FIR with her affidavit. "The copy filed by the petitioner was not a certified copy," its petition said, ''By annexing the FIR, the petitioner has misled the court and obtained an interim bail."

The agency stated that on receipt of the pumps, a committee inspected them and pointed out several shortcomings. In fact, it expressed concern about the genuineness of the consignment, supposedly from the Waterous company, USA, since only plastic stickers were found on the pumps -- nowhere was the name of the company engraved.

Further, the director of vigilance anti-corruption cell, Madras, had warned the UP officials about the Fire Challenger, that the company was under its observation.

The CBI petition said a decision to purchase 300 pumps were made during Mayawati's first tenure as chief minister. As per the rules, the procurement was to be made through the directorate of industries. But Mayawati ordered on October 13, 1995 that it may be done by the fire services department itself.

''This was an irregular decision on her part. There was no apparent urgency as the pumps were required only for the months of April to June,'' it said.

When the petitioner became the chief minister again in 1997, a proposal was initiated for purchasing 143 pumps. On July 30, an amount of Rs 46.5 million was sanctioned, the CBI petition said.

Mayawati further approved the repeat order of 143 pumps in violation of the rules which envisaged that an order can be repeated only for 50 per cent of the original quantity.

The BSP leader, for her part, said that as soon as the case was registered, the media, especially Doordarshan, gave wide publicity to pressurise her into falling in line with the BJP and supporting its confidence motion.

UNI

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