Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi here on Friday rejected the charges of defending officers who have been summoned by the special court Assam to depose on April 20 for their alleged involvement into multi-crore rupees greenhouse scam.
The court, which rejected the prayer of the investigating agency, the chief minister’s vigilance cell to discharge the 26 public servants including eight IAS officers has asked for personal appearance of these officers before the court. The Assam government had earlier denied prosecution sanctions against these 26 public servants as sought by chief minister’s vigilance cell probing the scam, which had apparently made them immune to prosecution.
The eight IAS officers who were summoned by the court include Alok Khare, Gayatri Baruah, M.C. Brahma, K.N. Buragohain, L. Phangcho, A.S. Tiwari, A.K. Bhutani and Hemanta Narzary.
Clarifying that Assam government was not shielding the scam-tainted officers, Assam chief minister’s office in a statement said that the present government in the state has been taking stern actions against corruption.
The government has instituted inquiries in various corruption cases and taken steps against those found guilty.
Referring the charges of Assam BJP, chief minister’s office pointed out that greenhouse scam took place during the AGP regime. Later, the BJP entered into an electoral alliance with them. Whether the BJP was oblivious of the greenhouse scam when it entered into an electoral alliance with the AGP, argued Mr Gogoi in the statement.