The Gujarat High Court dismissed revision petition filed on lack of evidence on the basis of allegation of sale of High-Speed Diesel (HSD) at concessional sales tax rate without permission from Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has challenged the orders passed by Special C.B.I. Judge, Ahmedabad, discharging the accused of the matters, where the C.B.I. had registered a case, at Gandhinagar under Sections 120B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of Indian Penal Code and Section 13(2) read with section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The allegation against the officials of four public sector oil companies viz. IOCL, HPCL, BPCL and IBP, are that they sold the High-Speed Diesel (‘HSD’) to various private industries of three States viz. Gujarat, Maharastra and Madhya Pradesh at concessional rates of sales tax as per applicable provisions of the State and Central Sales Tax Acts, without complying with the mandatory requisite permission from the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
The allegations are that, the private firms in collusion with the officials of the said oil companies sold the HSD in the open market contrary to the Government policy, the diversion thereof has caused huge revenue loss to the Government and wrongful gain to the concerned.
The Special Judge while discharging the accused had observed that the offence alleged to have been committed for the year 1997 to 2000, and F.I.R. was filed in the year 2000, and after a long period the chargesheet came to be filed in the year 2011, and before filing of the charge-sheet no sanction had been obtained by the prosecution under section 19 of the P.C. Act and Section 197 of the Cr.P.C.
The Special Judge further noted that there is no prima facie evidence to show that the oil companies suffered any loss because of act or omission of the officers and that there is neither evidence to show that HSD was sold by the applicants – accused at lower price, nor any evidence to show that the applicants – accused were aware that ‘C’ Forms were bogus.
A Single Judge Bench comprising Justice Gita Gopi observed that “This Court finds that the Special Judge has not committed any error in discharging the accused. No sanction has been granted for prosecuting the officers of the oil companies. The assessment made by the Special Judge discharging the accused is consistent with the record.”
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