Court sentences 13 accused in CGHS land allotment scam

New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) A Delhi court has sentenced 13 people, including a former IAS officer, to prison terms ranging from six months to five years in connection with a CBI case related to the Safdarjung Cooperative Group Housing Society (CGHS) scam.

Special Judge Prashant Sharma observed that corruption cases needed to be dealt with an iron hand, as it was like a cancer.

The court was hearing the arguments on sentencing against the accused, who had been convicted in a case probed by the agency for various offences, including corruption, cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.

The case pertains to the Rs 4,000-crore cooperative group housing societies (CGHS) scandal in Delhi, involving the fraudulent revival of defunct societies to illegally obtain subsidised land from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

Based on a 2006 order of the Delhi High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted the present inquiry into the society.

According to the prosecution, former IAS officer Narender Kumar, Gopal Dixit, the registrar of cooperatives societies (RCS), B M Sethi, the then assistant registrar of RCS who expired during the trial, along with RCS official Karamvir Singh, former president of the society Maha Nand Sharma and other society members entered into a criminal conspiracy and cheated the Delhi government by committing the offences of impersonation, cheating, forgery and abuse of official position by public servants for revival of the society in 1999.

The court had convicted the accused on October 13.

In an order dated October 31, the court said, "Corruption is like a cancer. Treatment like chemotherapy is required to cure society from it. Corruption has the capacity to cause the breakdown of our economy if it is not checked strictly." It said corruption had a cascading effect, thereby damaging the social fabric and morale of an ordinary, honest and prudent person, and it had to be "dealt with an iron hand." "Unless nipped in the bud at the earliest, it (corruption) is likely to cause turbulence, shaking of the socio-economic-political system in an otherwise healthy, wealthy, effective and vibrant society," the court said.

It said that in a civilised society, corruption was a disease which, if not detected in time, was sure to marginalise the polity of the country, leading to disastrous consequences.

"Corruption is termed as a plague which is not only contagious but if not controlled, spreads like a fire in a jungle," the court said.

It sentenced to five years imprisonment Narender Kumar, Karamvir Singh, Maha Nand Sharma, Pankaj Madan, Ahawni Sharma, Ashutosh Pant, Sudershan Tandon, Manoj Vats, Vijay Thakur, Vikas Madan and Poonam Awasthi.

The former RCS registrar, Gopal Dixit and another accused, Narender Dheer, were sentenced to two years' imprisonment with a fine.

"The faith of an ordinary layman of this country, which he reposes in the justice delivery system, must not be shaken on account of awarding too lenient a sentence," the court said. PTI MNR RHL