Jharkhand HC asks PSUs to publish names VIP encroachers within 10 days

RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Monday directed state PSUs to publish the names of VVIP encroachers in local dailies within 10 days and get the encroachment removed at the earliest.

The order of the division bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Prakash Tatia and Justice PP Bhatt, came following a status report submitted by CBI, which says 177 dignitaries, including deputy chief minister Hemant Soren, minister Chandra Prakash Choudhary, several sitting and ex-MPs and MLAs, IAS and IPS officers have encroached upon PSU properties in the state. The court was hearing the PIL on encroachments in the properties and residential quarters of the PSUs.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing encroachments in Jharkhand-based PSUs, including Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL), Heavy Engineering Corporation ( HEC), Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP) and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL), following a court order. The court will hear the matter again on July 12 and the PSUs have been directed to furnish the status report of the action taken against the encroachers.

The court also asked CBI to inform the respective Union ministries of the PSUs about the steps taken to remove the encroachments and also submit the list of encroachers to them. According to the CBI report, CCL tops the list of encroachment by VVIPs with 148, followed by BSP (15), BCCL (8) and HEC (6).