Ex-Gujarat BJP chief minister disputes "clean chit" on scams under Modi, cites BM Shah panel report as proof

By A Representative
Former BJP chief minister Suresh Mehta has said that the Gujarat government’s assertion about “clean chit” to it by the MB Shah Commission of Inquiry into 17 corruption cases has “no basis”, as the top panel, in its report says, it would “concur” with the conclusions arrived at, among others, by Supreme Court and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on them.
Citing three instances from the voluminous 5,500 page report, tabled in the Gujarat state assembly on March 31, Mehta, flanked by senior office bearers of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), told newspersons, “In each of them, the Shah Commission refuses to give clean chit, saying it leaves the matter to high authorities for judging them.”
The Commission was set up in 2011 by the then chief minister Narendra Modi to probe into allegations of corruption by the Congress against his government, which include wrongful allotment of land to the industrialists. Alleging Rs 1 lakh crore worth of scams in the 17 cases, Congress made a representation on these to the Gujarat governor and the President of India in 2011.
The first case cited by Mehta, who was BJP chief minister in 1995-96, is of Indigold Refinery Ltd, which he said was allocated 36.25 acres of land in Kutch district for just Rs 70 lakh, even though the state revenue department officials had ruled against it. “The chief minister’s office (CMO) and revenue minister Anandiben Patel overruled the decision and ensured allocation”, he said.
“A writ petition filed in the Supreme Court against the land allocation ruled a scam worth Rs 250 crore in allocation of the land, which cost Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 per square yard”, said Mehta. “Following this, in 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that the decision to sell 36.25 acre of land to it in 2009 was bad in law, indicting the CMO and minister Patel, and set it aside.”
The second instance Mehta cited is that of the Rs 6,000 crore Sujalam Sufalam project, floated to construct a 337-km-long high-level recharge canal in North Gujarat, pointing out that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Gujarat state assembly, consisting of 15 MLAs, 10 of BJP and rest of Congress, had found a scam worth Rs 500 crore.
“At least two official committees, set by the Modi government, one under VS Gadhvi and another under Manjula Subramaniam, found basis on the PAC allegation. While the PAC report, lying with the Gujarat assembly speaker for the last 10 years, has not been made public, the MB Shah Commission could have examined the two other committees”, asserted Mehta.
The third instance cited by Mehta is of the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), whose “failed” KG Basin operation to explore oil and gas off Andhra Pradesh coast, as also expansion offshore to different countries, said CAG, cost the top state public sector undertaking a whopping Rs 19,716.27 crore worth of loan.
“It is shocking that the media has been given just a few pages of what the Gujarat government thinks about the Shah Commission report, while 5,500 page report, running into several volumes, was submitted to the state assembly library, with no permission to photocopy it”, said Mehta, who did not reveal how he obtained it.
“The Commission was set up in 2011 by the legal interest with its terms of reference saying it was in public interest to know whether there were any scams”, said Mehta, adding, “Though the interim report was submitted to the Gujarat government in 2012, and the final report was submitted a year later, it has now been placed in the assembly, but no copies are available.”

Comments

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Beneath the stone: Revisiting the New Jersey mandir controversy

By Rajiv Shah A recent report published in the British media outlet The Guardian , titled “Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease,” took me back to my visits to the New Jersey mandir —first in 2022, when it was still under construction, though parts of it were open to visitors, and again in 2024, after its completion.

Civil society flags widespread violations of land acquisition Act before Parliamentary panel

By Jag Jivan Civil society organisations and stakeholders from across India have presented stark evidence before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj , alleging systemic violations of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013 , particularly in Scheduled Areas and tribal regions.

Ecologist Dr. S. Faizi urges UN intervention to save 35 million Gulf migrants

By A Representative Renowned ecologist and veteran United Nations negotiator Dr. S. Faizi has issued an urgent appeal to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, calling for immediate diplomatic intervention to halt escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf. In a formal letter copied to several UN missions, Faizi warned that the lives and livelihoods of 35 million migrant workers—who comprise the vast majority of the population in many Gulf cities—are facing an unprecedented existential crisis.

Search This Blog