Taking cognizance of the three chargesheets filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last month, Special Judge Bharihoke has asked the accused to appear in court on August 24, 27 and 31.

Kaul's name figures in all three chargesheets, while Thungon is mentioned in two. Among the other accused are Rajan S Lala and DD Arora, Kaul's additional private secretaries and SL Yadav, Kaul's assistant private secretary at the time.

In an order dated February 14, 1996 the Supreme Court had directed the CBI to enquire into the allegations of corruption and bribery in the matter of out-of-turn allottment of Government accommodation and shops, and register cases against those found prima facie (on first impression) responsible. The CBI filed the case the same year.

Kaul was Union minister fromJune 1991 to September 1995. And Thungon was Minister of State for Urban Development from January 1993 to September 1995.

The first chargesheet is against Kaul and 12 others, the second against Kaul, Thungon and three others while the final chargesheet is against Kaul, Thungon and 45 others.

The investigating agency has alleged that while working as Union Minister, Kaul ``... dishonestly allotted shops on economic license fee basis with a view to cause pecuniary gain to the allottees and corresponding wrongful loss to the Govt ... without calling for any competitive tenders/ applications from general public'' during October 1991 to July 1995.

``Investigation has further revealed that allotment of shops was made in favour of those persons who were either relatives'' of Kaul or Thungon, while ``... rest of the persons were allotted stalls. Some of the stalls were situated at the strategic points from the commercial point of view and those were allotted to persons close to'' Kaul, Thungon and Lala.

TheCBI has alleged that there was no public notice or advertisement inviting applications from eligible persons, adding that the people from whom applications were received ``belonged to a very limited circle centering around Kaul and her personal staff.''

These applications were received directly in Kaul's office and there was no verification of the antecedents of the applicants and the claims made by them in their applications, said the CBI. Kaul allegedly ``... ordered allotments without the applications being processed by the office''.

``The accused persons were aware of the fact that they were not entitled for allotment of commercial premises under any discretionary quota or economic license fee basis,'' according to the chargesheet.