Meluri Road Projects: 1 yr annual increment of engineer withheld, Nagaland Govt to HC

May 19, 2023 41 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 19

Action has been taken against the Executive Engineer charged of allegedly issuing “false completion certificate” in the “Lephori to Molhe Camp” road construction project in Meluri, Phek district by “withholding one-year annual increment,” the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench was informed on May 17.

The said road was one of three incomplete road projects in Meluri against which a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is pending before the Kohima Bench.

Resuming the hearing the PIL on Wednesday, the Additional Advocate General (AG) representing the Government of Nagaland submitted orally that the annual increment has been withhold against the Nagaland PWD (Roads & Bridges) engineer, then under Phek division.

Accordingly, the Division Bench of Justice Kakheto Sema and Justice Mridul Kumar Kalita directed the Additional AG to file an affidavit enclosing the “Memorandum dated 25.04.2023 issued by the Commissioner & Secretary to the Government of Nagaland, Works & Housing department,” regarding the action taken against the engineer.

It must be noted here that during the last hearing on April 26, the Additional AG told the Court that action has been taken against concerned engineer as per the Court’s previous direction on March 22. The completion certificate was allegedly issued in January 2014.

The “action taken” report, dated April 25, was submitted on April 26. However, neither the Court’s order nor the oral proceeding on April 26 elaborated on the type or quantum of action.

As per the Court’s first order, dated November 12, 2020, the PIL was filed alleging that a “sum of Rs 30 crore was sanctioned in the year 2014 for construction of the road between Lephori to Molhe and completion certificate for the same was issued on 21/1/2014 though the work has not been completed yet.”

It further alleged that in 2017, an “additional fund of Rs 15 crore was sanctioned for construction of the same road and in 2018 also, the same amount was sanctioned for the same purpose. But on the ground no road worth the name has been constructed so far.

Meanwhile, on May 17, the counsel appearing for the petitioner sought for a weeks’ time for filing affidavit in response to the March 22 Court order. The Court then had directed the counsel to file an affidavit clearly stating the “work covered by the original work order and the stretches where it overlaps and as to whether, the bill has already (been) withdrawn by the Contractor for the road from TO1 to Molhe Camp.”

In view of the counsel’s submission, the Bench listed the matter for further hearing after one week on May 31.