Jaipur: MLAs accuse BJP govt of returning charity money with interest in lieu of votes in Rajya Sabha polls, FIR filed

Can a donor, a billionaire, make a donation for a government project and get it back with interest in his own name on pretext of delay in execution?

On March 24, two MLAs, Kirori Lal Meena and Hanuman Beniwal tried to raise the issue in Assembly and when refused, created a ruckus forcing Speaker to adjourn the House for an hour. Later, both addressed the media outside the House and alleged that BD Aggarwal, who heads Unionist Zamindara Party, was extended this favour in lieu of his two MLAs, including his daughter Kamini Jindal, voting for the BJP in Rajya Sabha polls. The two demanded that the polls be cancelled and an inquiry be ordered into the matter.

Background:

An FIR was registered on February 7 on the orders of chief Judicial magistrate, Sriganganagar against Manjit Singh, principal secretary, local self-government, BD Jindal (Agrawal) donor businessman and Sunita Chaudhary, commissioner, municipality and others for returning Rs 11,79,52,146 crore on November 22, 2016 against Rs 10 crore that were paid in 2012.

The order came on an application filed by Pawan Gaur, a BJP parshad from Sriganganagar. Aggarwal's rise to richness lies in his success in the guar gum trade some years ago. He floated National Unionist Zamindara Party before Assembly elections in 2013. His wife Vimla declared income of Rs 2762 crore of which Rs 1558 crore were in his name whereas daughter Kamini declared Rs 197 crore while contesting the Assembly elections. The daughter won, but the wife lost.

In run up to the elections, Aggarwal communicated on the letterhead of Seth Meghraj Jindal Charitable Trust named after his father and paid Rs 10 crore in 2012 as half of the estimated cost of the project to state government for a scheme to drain out rain water against an assurance that the scheme would be named after his father.

The government consented that the scheme be named so, and offered Aggarwal to lay foundation stone of that specific project which was made a part of a larger project that then chief minister Ashok Gehlot laid foundation stone earlier.

One official communication even mentioned that 64 per cent of the money had been spent on it. However, later in 2013, Aggarwal demanded his money back with interest alleging a delay in execution and a merger of his scheme with another. In March 2014, the commissioner's legal counsel rejected Aggarwal's notice saying there was no such provision in law to refund money that was gifted as per law or any deadline was given by appropriate authority.

Meanwhile, Aggarwal, who was a stern critic of Raje and the BJP, lodged a case to get money back. Incidentally, he had repeatedly declared his intention to donate Rs 100 crore for building a medical college in Sriganganagar before elections, but authorities said that money never came through.

When officials changed the stand

BJP government had rightfully ignored his demand to return money, but developments in June2016 allegedly brought a change in situation. The BJP, despite having an overwhelming majority in Assembly, sought his daughter Kamini's help in Rajya Sabha elections to secure victory of all four candidates.

As Gaur alleges, the return of donation money with interest was a favour done in lieu of that. He has a point as the government reversed the commissioner's earlier stand against returning the donor money and issued the cheque including the interest within eleven days of such orders issued from local self government department in November.

The commissioner seemed to be in so much hurry to return the money that his office did not deduct the tax at source on interest and later had to ask Aggarwal to deposit it. Gaur also seeks investigations into whether Aggarwal had claimed any tax rebate in lieu of donation made and whether transactions were from his account of the Trust's and seeks an investigations by the enforcement department.

Aggarwal did not respond to call or SMS sent to seek his version. An official for the local bodies department said the entire donation episode had no mandatory sanction from the collector: "The money was not included in any budgetary provision and so was not spent at all. As such, there was nothing wrong in returning the money with interest that it earned in the bank."

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