CBI court to hear Taj Corridor case on Oct 8
Lucknow, Oct 8: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court will hear today the rupees-175-crore Taj Corridor case, in which Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is the main accused.
Judge Rekha Dixit had deferred the hearing after the counsel for one of the accused -- former Uttar Pradesh Environment Principal Secretary R K Sharma – moved an application seeking an adjournment.
Sharma
had
filed
an
intervention
plea
in
the
matter.
Uttar
Pradesh
Governor
TV
Rajeswar
had
earlier
refused
to
accord
sanction
to
prosecute
Mayawati
and
former
State
Environment
Minister
Naseemuddin
Siddique
in
the
case.
Besides
Sharma,
the
other
accused
in
the
scam
are
Rajendra
Prasad,
an
under
secretary
and
a
former
IAS
officer
V
K
Gupta.
Meanwhile,
the
Supreme
Court
had
reserved
its
judgement
on
an
application
filed
by
the
amicus
curiae
in
the
case
challenging
the
order
of
Rajeswar
refusing
sanction
to
prosecute
Mayawati
under
the
Prevention
of
Corruption
Act.
A bench comprising Justices S B Sinha, S H Kapadia and B K Jain reserved its verdict after hearing the amicus Kishan Mahajan and Solicitor General G E Vahanvati on behalf of the Centre.
The CBI has been probing the case over the past three years, under direct monitoring of the Supreme Court. In November 2006, it set aside the CBI's status report seeking closure of the case.
The Taj Corridor Project proposed to give a facelift to the areas surrounding Agra's major monuments along the Yamuna. Included in the venture was a blueprint for a swanky shopping mall.
The plan was put forward by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and consultancy firm German Technical Cooperation in 2001.
It was part of a series of proposals collectively referred to as the 'Environment Management Plan - Agra'.
Under the project, the CPCB had conceptualised a heritage corridor covering five historical monuments, including Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Ram Bagh, Etmad-ud-Daula's tomb and Chini ka Rauza.
All this was in disregard of the guidelines laid down by the Environment Ministry and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The grandiose scheme fell to pieces when it came under media scrutiny in mid-June 2003.
ANI
>