Cooperative society scam rocks Haryana assembly: STF will probe financial irregularities in coop societies from 1992, says Khattar
The cooperation department of Haryana operates the ICDP, focusing on development in rural and agricultural areas through various programmes
Four weeks after the Haryana’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB) claimed to have “unearthed a ₹100 crore” corruption racket within the integrated cooperative development project (ICDP), chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday informed the assembly that total amount embezzled was near ₹9 crore.
The cooperation department of Haryana operates the ICDP, focusing on development in rural and agricultural areas through various programmes.
The scam came to public domain when the ACB on February 2 announced to have “busted a ₹100 crore scam within the ICDP” and arrested the accused, saying that accused assistant registrars and district registrars of cooperative societies colluded with an auditor and allegedly misappropriated funds for personal gains.
The ACB had said the accused misused government funds deposited in official accounts to purchase flats, land, and other assets, etc.
On Wednesday, during the last sitting of the ongoing budget session, the Opposition launched a well-coordinated offensive against the ruling BJP-JJP government on this scam as Opposition leaders fired a barrage of questions.
As cooperation minister Banwari Lal appeared shaky, chief minister Khattar deflated the offensive by announcing that a special task force (STF) under the ACB will be formed to investigate irregularities in cooperative societies in all districts.
“This STF will investigate irregularities in cooperative societies starting from 1992 to till date,” Khattar said, adding that after detecting irregularities, the government had suo moto handed over the case to the ACB.
“The ACB has filed nine FIRs in this case, and irregularities amounting to ₹8.80 crore have been found in the investigation of societies in four districts,” Khattar said.
The issue rocked the House when Congress leaders Chiranjeev Rao, Aftab Ahmed, BB Batra, Kiran Choudhry and Neeraj Sharma, besides INLD’s Ellenabad MLA Abhay Singh Chautala raised the issue via calling attention notice.
Rao said the public representatives and government officials allegedly colluded with auditors for personal gains and misused government funds. Kiran Choudhry said it was a “mega scam” pertaining to utilisation of ICDP funds in the cooperation department.
Responding to the accusations of the Opposition leaders, the chief minister said properties of accused officials have also been attached for the recovery of funds.
A flat located in Mohali, 29 kanals 5 marlas of land, and bank account of accused Anu Kaushish have been attached. The properties and bank accounts of other accused namely Ram Kumar, Yogendra Agrawal, Sumit Agrawal and Nitin Sharma have also been attached. The bank account of Sumit Agrawal’s wife has also been attached.
Khattar said officers who have been suspended in this case recently will also be dismissed if found guilty in the investigation.
ICDP was started in Haryana in 1992
As per the written statement of the government tabled in the House, the ICDP was started in Haryana in 1992 with 17 projects covering all districts which were completed in 2013. Of ₹136 crore released for these projects, ₹132 crore were utilised and the balance amount was deposited in government treasury.
In the second phase, projects were sanctioned in seven districts namely Bhiwani (March 2011), Panchkula, Ambala, Sirsa, Hisar (March 2013), Fatehabad (June 2013) and Rewari (April 2017). These projects were completed in March 2018, December 2019, August 2020, August-September 2020, and March 2022.
The total amount released for these seven projects was ₹131 crore, of which ₹107 crore were utilised and remaining amount was deposited in treasury.
The detailed project reports (DPR) of other six districts — Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat and Gurugram — were prepared by an empanelled consultant agency of national cooperative development corporation (NCDC). Project sanction letters were issued on March 30, 2021 and these projects are operative till March 31, 2024.
For these six projects, ₹62 crore were released, of which ₹19.46 crore were utilised, ₹9 crore were deposited in treasury, while ₹29 crore were transferred to Hafed and Haryana Warehousing Corporation as deposit work for preparing of estimates, floating of tenders and execution of civil works. The balance ₹4 crore is lying in the accounts of field offices.
The state government said on November 17, 2022, the ACB was directed to hold probe and that four FIRs were in May-July 2023.
On July 11, 2023, instructions were issued to freeze bank accounts of ongoing projects running in Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat and Gurugram.
The ACB registered nine FIRs in January and February 2024.
The government invoked Article 311(2b) and dismissed Sumit Aggrawal, senior auditor, on October 23, 2023, and Anu Koshish, assistant registrar cooperative societies; Yogender Aggrawal, deputy chief auditor, and Ram Kumar, assistant registrar, cooperative societies, on February 21, 2024.
All other nine officers named in the FIRs and arrested by the ACB have been placed under suspension.
“The ACB probe revealed that most of the ICDP works were allotted to companies/firms owned by accused Stalinjeet Singh. It was revealed that he has been working with the cooperation department of Haryana for the last 20 years,” reads the reply, adding the government has also decided to go for forensic and third-party financial audit of all projects sanctioned since 2000.
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