Author: Kavitha Iyer
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 18, 2011
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cong-selfgoal-how-manish-tewari-didnt-do-his-homework-on-anna/833559/0
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari's allegation
that Anna Hazare was corrupt from "head to toe" saw BJP leader Sushma
Swaraj advising him in the Lok Sabha to exercise caution while making such
comments. But caution, it seems, was not the only thing that Tewari overlooked
when he picked on Hazare's probity.
Not only was Tewari poorly prepared when it
came to the facts of the case, he also overlooked a critical detail which
overturns his entire argument. The Indian Express has found that a task force
appointed by Maharashtra's Congress-led government had not only absolved Hazare
of any wrongdoing that could be punishable, but also called him a "whistleblower"
and the offences of his charitable trusts "relatively minor and of a
technical nature".
Meanwhile, another Congress spokesman, Rashid
Alvi, alleged today that the US was supporting Hazare's movement.
The case referred to by Tewari relates to
Hazare's indictment by an inquiry commission probing corruption charges against
four NCP ministers and Hazare in 2005. While the P B Sawant Commission, appointed
in 2003 to probe these allegations against the ministers and their counter-allegations
against Hazare, cited several instances of corruption or maladministration
by all five, the state government appointed a task force led by former chief
secretary D M Sukthankar to recommend action to be taken on the report.
The task force's terms of reference were clear:
to recommend any action in accordance with law and to determine whether any
loss was caused to the state government by the acts of the five persons -
Padamsinh Patil, Suresh Jain (now with the Shiv Sena), Nawab Mallik, Vijaykumar
Gavit and Hazare.
The Sawant Commission had found some irregularities
in four charitable Trusts run by Hazare. Among others, one Trust did not submit
budgets as required, one submitted its audited accounts after a considerable
delay, it kept fixed deposits in banks other than scheduled banks, there was
non-consolidation of the accounts of various divisions of one Trust, a faulty
procedure by an accountant, non-accounting of the interest on a fixed deposit
of Rs 2 lakh.
While the Commission noted that Hazare had
appeared to give a free hand to some of his activists, leading to their misconduct,
it specifically noted that an expenditure of Rs 2.2 lakh from the funds of
the Hind Swaraj Trust towards Hazare's 60th birthday celebrations "was
clearly illegal and amounted to corrupt practice". Hazare's defence that
the sum was later repaid by a businessman was not accepted as this donation
was also made to the trust and was hence the property of the Trust.
Based on these findings, the Sukthankar Task
Force said, "Although, as correctly pointed out by the Commission, the
expenditure... amounted to misapplication of funds of the Trust, was not authorised
by the Trust Deed and was, therefore, beyond the authority of the Trust, we
are not inclined to recommend any action, much less of prosecution, against
Shri Hazare for the reason that Shri Hazare's role is that of a whistleblower
and he has been working in the spirit of a missionary to curb corruption by
public servants, including ministers. This incident appears to us to be inadvertent.
We feel that the observations made by the Commission against Shri Hazare are
by themselves sufficient to chasten a person like him and to induce him to
learn a lesson for the future to discipline and control his workers and followers..."
The report noted that several allegations
against Hazare had not been part of the original inquiry and had been pressed
subsequently after inspection of accounts that were made available by Hazare's
team. Further, the report said that while the functioning of Hazare's Trusts
had indeed shown breaches of various provisions of the Bombay Public Trusts
Act, the offences are punishable with a fine of up to Rs 1,000. "With
no intention whatsoever of belittling these provisions, it cannot be gainsaid
that these offences are relatively minor and are of a technical nature."
Adding that breaches of the Act are common
among Trusts operating in rural areas due to ignorance and lack of administrative
support, the report said, "Prosecution for every offence of each one
of such technical breaches is neither practicable nor is it called for."
Advising the Charity Commissioner to keep these Trusts under surveillance
for proper compliance, the report also said there was no indication of any
malafide intention or dishonest motives of the trustees.
Timeline
* Sept 2003: Justice P B Sawant Commission
of Inquiry appointed.
* Feb 2005: Sawant Commission report submitted.
Holds Padamsinh Patil responsible for various offences relating to a sugar
export scam; indicts Suresh Jain in functioning of Jalgaon District Central
Co-operative Bank, Jalgaon Municipal Council and Jalgaon Khandesh Bhukamp
Sahayata Nidhi Trust; indicts Nawab Malik in reconstruction of Jariwala Chawl
property in Mahim; finds Vijaykumar Gavit guilty of maladministration.
* April 2005: Three-member task force headed
by former chief secretary D M Sukthankar appointed.
* Sept 2005: Task force report submitted,
says legal action may be taken only against Padamsinh Patil.
* Jan 2006: One more committee formed to study
the report of the task force. Aurangabad bench stays implementation of task
force report until the new committee's report is submitted; interim stay yet
to be vacated.
