Friday, 14 April 2023 | PNS | NAINITAL
The Uttarakhand High Court has agreed to the request made by Housing and Urban Development secretary Deependra Chaudhary who sought one month to act per the orders of the court regarding allegations leveled at the Roorkee mayor Gaurav Goel. The court issued this direction while hearing a public interest litigation regarding alleged misuse of position by the Roorkee mayor. Chaudhary appeared in the court on Thursday and stated that the court’s earlier orders are being implemented. He sought one month to complete the process. The division bench of chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Alok Kumar Verma agreed to the request.
In the past the court had directed the government to probe allegations leveled at the mayor and take action under the relevant act within two months. Later, the court had issued a contempt notice to the Housing and Urban Development secretary for not observing the earlier orders of the court and had ordered him to appear in the court on April 13.
Roorkee resident Amit Agrawal had filed the PIL alleging that the Roorkee mayor had misused his position. The petitioner has alleged that Goel made a phone call and demanded Rs 25 lakh for renewing the lease on a land plot. The phone call was recorded and the voice sample was sent to the forensic laboratory where it was found to be matching the voice of the mayor. The petitioner has further alleged that Goel framed the husband of a woman employee in a false case and purportedly exerted pressure on her to grant him favours to make him withdraw the case. The police had lodged a case and filed the final report. However, the lower court had rejected the police report and had directed that the matter be investigated again, the petitioner has stated.
