High Court suspends its assistant registrar on corruption charge
he name of the senior official in the accounts department cropped up when vigilance officials were probing allegations of graft against a district judge in Banaskantha; registrar general initiates inquiry
Yogesh Avasthi and Hemington James
Posted On Saturday, August 18, 2012
(http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=2012081820120818004300368d2298a8d)
Displaying zero tolerance to graft, Gujarat High Court has suspended an assistant registrar following allegations of corruption and disproportionate assets against him. This is the first ever case of a class I officer being suspended on such charges.
According to highly placed sources in the high court, Assistant Registrar Jayesh C Patel, who worked in the Nazir ‘A’ (accounts) of the administrative department, was suspend earlier this month. The vigilance department officials were investigating the allegation of corruption against District Judge in Banaskantha K P Vegad when Patel’s name creeped in.
This was reported to Registrar General of High Court G R Udhwani who asked the vigilance department to initiate inquiry against Patel. Following vigilance’s report, Patel was suspended. Confirming the news, Udhwani said, “It’s true that Jayesh Patel has been suspended and inquiry against him has been initiated.”
According to information gathered, during investigation the vigilance officers found that Patel had allegedly taken money from some parties, promising them to get favourable judgment. This was being done without the notice of the judge of the court concerned. Sources said this amounted to ‘misuse of office and position’, by Patel. This was being done when Patel was registrar of Nazir ‘A’ of administration wing. Before this, Patel was in the special civil application (SCA) department.
During the inquiry, the vigilance department found out that Patel owned 400 sq yard of land in NRI Park near S G Highway in his father Chaturbhai Patel’s name. Currently, a house is being constructed on that piece of land. On checking the documents, the vigilance officials found that the price of the land was shown as Rs 2.50 lakh whereas the actual price was estimated to be much higher.
When AM tried to contact Jayesh Patel for comments, he was not present at his residence. But his father told Mirror, “We are very upset with Jayesh’s suspension. The allegations against him are baseless. He had tendered his resignation in February and was scheduled to be relieved on August 30. He is suffering from severe back pain and needs rest. He has been trapped.”
Chaturbhai himself was an assistant registrar in the high court. “My daughter lives in Unjha where Vegad was her neighbour. Due to this, Jayesh had good relations with the him and therefore when Vegad was suspended Jayesh’s name came in the charge sheet,” Chaturbhai reasoned out.
When asked about the allegation of using someone else’s SIM card, Patel said, “In 2006 Jayesh’s friend had bought two SIM cards, one for himself and one for Jayesh. By mistake the SIM cards were swapped and they continued to use them since. When Jayesh learnt about the swap, he gave away the SIM card to someone who is working at our NRI park site. Jayesh is no longer using the card.”
About the charge of disproportionate assets, Patel said, “The piece of land is not in my name alone. My brother and I jointly own it and we are constructing a house on it so that we can live together there. The house beside the one in which we live was bought on loan. Jayesh is not involved in any corruption,” Patel said. About the NRI Park plot, he said, “I had bought the land in 2008 and I have documents. We bought the land after selling our land in our village Soneri near Mehsana.”
Yogesh Avasthi and Hemington James
Posted On Saturday, August 18, 2012
(http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=2012081820120818004300368d2298a8d)
Displaying zero tolerance to graft, Gujarat High Court has suspended an assistant registrar following allegations of corruption and disproportionate assets against him. This is the first ever case of a class I officer being suspended on such charges.
According to highly placed sources in the high court, Assistant Registrar Jayesh C Patel, who worked in the Nazir ‘A’ (accounts) of the administrative department, was suspend earlier this month. The vigilance department officials were investigating the allegation of corruption against District Judge in Banaskantha K P Vegad when Patel’s name creeped in.
This was reported to Registrar General of High Court G R Udhwani who asked the vigilance department to initiate inquiry against Patel. Following vigilance’s report, Patel was suspended. Confirming the news, Udhwani said, “It’s true that Jayesh Patel has been suspended and inquiry against him has been initiated.”
According to information gathered, during investigation the vigilance officers found that Patel had allegedly taken money from some parties, promising them to get favourable judgment. This was being done without the notice of the judge of the court concerned. Sources said this amounted to ‘misuse of office and position’, by Patel. This was being done when Patel was registrar of Nazir ‘A’ of administration wing. Before this, Patel was in the special civil application (SCA) department.
During the inquiry, the vigilance department found out that Patel owned 400 sq yard of land in NRI Park near S G Highway in his father Chaturbhai Patel’s name. Currently, a house is being constructed on that piece of land. On checking the documents, the vigilance officials found that the price of the land was shown as Rs 2.50 lakh whereas the actual price was estimated to be much higher.
When AM tried to contact Jayesh Patel for comments, he was not present at his residence. But his father told Mirror, “We are very upset with Jayesh’s suspension. The allegations against him are baseless. He had tendered his resignation in February and was scheduled to be relieved on August 30. He is suffering from severe back pain and needs rest. He has been trapped.”
Chaturbhai himself was an assistant registrar in the high court. “My daughter lives in Unjha where Vegad was her neighbour. Due to this, Jayesh had good relations with the him and therefore when Vegad was suspended Jayesh’s name came in the charge sheet,” Chaturbhai reasoned out.
When asked about the allegation of using someone else’s SIM card, Patel said, “In 2006 Jayesh’s friend had bought two SIM cards, one for himself and one for Jayesh. By mistake the SIM cards were swapped and they continued to use them since. When Jayesh learnt about the swap, he gave away the SIM card to someone who is working at our NRI park site. Jayesh is no longer using the card.”
About the charge of disproportionate assets, Patel said, “The piece of land is not in my name alone. My brother and I jointly own it and we are constructing a house on it so that we can live together there. The house beside the one in which we live was bought on loan. Jayesh is not involved in any corruption,” Patel said. About the NRI Park plot, he said, “I had bought the land in 2008 and I have documents. We bought the land after selling our land in our village Soneri near Mehsana.”
