HC orders CBI probe into allegations against retd DRT presiding officer
Nov 22, 2024 06:52 AM IST
The petition stated that the then presiding officer of DRT passed an order against the petitioner bank (Bank of Baroda) in favour of the private respondents on September 18, while he (presiding officer) was not even present in the court on that day.
HT Correspondent
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Thursday ordered the CBI to investigate allegations against a now-retired presiding officer of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Lucknow, while summoning a report of the action taken by the probe agency within 15 days.
The next hearing of the case will be on December 10.
Justice Pankaj Bhatia passed the order on a petition filed on behalf of Bank of Baroda, Barabanki.
The petition stated that the then presiding officer of DRT passed an order against the petitioner bank (Bank of Baroda) in favour of the private respondents on September 18, while he (presiding officer) was not even present in the court on that day.
It was said that to remove this irregularity, the presiding officer issued a corrigendum order on September 27, saying that the order of September 18 should be read as the order of September 24.
It was submitted that the petitioner’s case was not listed on September 24 and the corrigendum order of September 27 was also not on record.
It was also contended that the presiding officer retired on September 27 (2024) itself.
While hearing the matter, the court summoned the report and related records from the registrar of DRT, and also asked for information from the stenographer of the presiding officer as to whether any order was dictated to him on September 18.
In compliance with the order, the registrar stated in his report that the order was not written by the stenographer on September 18 and the corrigendum of September 27 was also written by an outsourced stenographer.
The court also found that serious allegations have been made against the same presiding officer in two other petitions in the past.
In one of the petitions, the central government was ordered to investigate and, in the other case, the hearing before the officer was stopped.
Considering all the circumstances, the court ordered the CBI to investigate the matter and file a charge sheet if anyone is found guilty.
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