The Delhi High Court has asked the Chief Vigilance Commission to answer why it did not act on a report by the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of Kandla Port Trust (KPT) in connection with the alleged 16,000 acre land scam.

The scam relates to a lease given to 16 salt manufacturers for four decades at throw away price, incurring loss of several thousand crores per annum to KPT.

A bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Murlidhar directed the Commission to file its reply by two weeks. It directed the Union Ministry of Shipping to file an affidavit explaining as to why it did not act on the report submitted by the KPT CVO Manoranjan Kumar two years ago.

"The CVC is directed to file its reply by November 11 ... as to why it failed to take action following the report submitted by CVO two years ago," the bench said.

Pranav Sachdeva, who is representing petitioner and senior counsel Prashant Bhusan said: “The court repeatedly asked the CVC counsel why it did not act on the CVO’s report. As a last chance, the court ordered KPT and the Union Ministry of Shipping to file its reply in 15 days.”

In 2007, Manoranjan Kumar, the then KPT Deputy Chairman and CVO, had brought the scam to the notice of the shipping ministry. But the ministry asked four officials including Kumar, Chairman A Janardan Rao, Financial Advisor A Krishnan and Chief Accounts Officer A Gadakar to proceed on leave. Neither the ministry nor the CVC acted on the CVO’s report.

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