Jabalpur, Aug 15 The Madhya Pradesh High Court has asked Collectors across the state to probe alleged fraud in paddy procurement in their respective districts, and submit action-taken reports.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal issued the direction on Friday while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by consumer rights activist and Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch president P G Najpande.
His lawyer Dinesh Upadhyay told the court that the Jabalpur Collector had detected a fraud of crores of rupees and taken action against those responsible.
This fraud had links in other parts of the state too, but the government had not taken adequate action in other districts, the lawyer claimed.
Cases had been registered in Mandla, Balaghat, Seoni and Dindori, but the action remained inadequate, advocate Upadhyay added.
The state government had instructed Collectors of 27 districts to investigate the matter, he said.
The HC directed the Madhya Pradesh Civil Supplies Corporation to file affidavits with details of the action taken at the state level following the action initiated by the Jabalpur Collector.
The court also directed the Economic Offences Wing to submit a report on the progress of its investigation, Upadhyay told reporters.
