The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe alleged financial lapses in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) across Uttar Pradesh, a lawyer said.
The Lucknow bench of the high court comprising Justice Pradeep Kant and Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi passed the order on a public suit filed by local journalist Sachidanand.
"The court has directed the CBI to probe alleged financial anomalies in NRHM projects across Uttar Pradesh since 2005 within four months, and submit a report," the petitioner's lawyer said.
"The same bench earlier ordered a CBI inquiry into the irregularities in NRHM projects in Lucknow on a petition filed by NGO We, The People," he added.
In September, the state government told the court that as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) was already conducting a special audit of the projects of the central government-funded NRHM, there was no need to involve the CBI.
The murders of two chief medical officers (Family Welfare), Vinod Arya and B.P. Singh in the past year or so were believed to be linked to alleged large-scale financial irregularities in the NRHM programmes.
Arya and Singh were shot dead in Lucknow in October 2010 and April 2011, respectively. The Uttar Pradesh government had recommended a CBI inquiry into the two killings.