Cuttack: Orissa high court has quashed a 15-year-old vigilance case against Golak Prasad Mohapatra, president of Orissa Consumers’ Cooperative Federation Ltd (OCCF), holding that delay in investigation and trial is an abuse of the process of law.On Feb 25, Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra, set aside the FIR registered on June 2, 2010, and the consequential criminal proceedings pending before the 3rd additional sessions judge, Bhubaneswar, insofar as the petitioner is concerned. Senior advocate Subir Palit argued for the petitioner.
The case stemmed from allegations of irregularities in distribution of subsidised linkage coal to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises between 2008 and 2010. Vigilance officials alleged that coal meant for MSMEs was diverted to the open market that a marketing agent was appointed through fake quotations, and supplies were made to non-existent units, causing a loss of around Rs 25 lakh to the state exchequer. Offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant provisions of the IPC were invoked. The HC took note of the case timeline and the slow proceedings.“So far as the present matter is concerned, the alleged occurrence pertains to the period 2008-2010 and the FIR was initially lodged in the year 2010. The sanction to initiate prosecution against the petitioner was obtained from the Registrar Cooperative Societies, Bhubaneswar, in 2011. The charge sheet was submitted in 2013, three years after registration of the FIR, and the charge was framed 9 years later in 2022, which is also when the first witness on behalf of the prosecution was examined. As of August, 2025, only 13 out of the 38 charge-sheeted witnesses have been examined. This implies that the case has been lingering on for one-and-half decades at this point and is no close to being concluded.”Observing that the delay in trial cannot be attributed to the petitioner and that the same is, in fact, largely attributable to the prosecution, Justice Mohapatra quashed the proceedings against Mohapatra.
