RAJENDRA ARLEKAR IS NOW HIMACHAL PRADESH GOVERNOR: IT WAS COBBLING ASSETS IN GOA – A CLASSIC TALE OF RAGS TO RICHES

A person with Eminence in Public life and impeccable integrity should be entrusted with the very high Constitutional post of Governor of a State.

The BJP which had lectured loud and sermonized on Zero Tolerance to Corruption has been acting to the contrary. The latest is the selection of the grossly tainted Rajendra Arlekar as Governor of Himachal Pradesh. Couldn’t they find a worthy Goan?

In that disproportionate assets case against Rajendra Arlekar he was let free by the Court on the technical ground that the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) had not sought sanction of the government to prosecute. Obviously the ACB would not seek a sanction against a ruling party politician.

But Rajendra Arlekar has a lot to answer on his sudden mountain of assets after he became Speaker in 2012.  By a sale deed dated 26th August 3013 he purchased a 500 sq mt plot at Porvorim on a payment of Rs 72 lakhs but the sale deed did not reveal the mode of payment as to whether the amount paid by him was in cash, cheque or draft. Besides the 72 lakhs he also paid an amount of Rs 2, 52,000 towards stamp duty and a further Rs 2, 16,280 as registration and processing fees of that Sale deed.

In an affidavit filed by Rajendra Arlekar before the  Electoral officer on 9th February 2012 he had shown his income for the year 2010-2011 as Rs 2,76,671 and that of his wife Anagha Deshpande Arlekar a school teacher as Rs 5,87,186. So the purchase of the plot for 72 lakhs by Rajendra Arlekar was clearly disproportionate to his last known source of income.

Rajendra Arlekar in that affidavit had shown his total liabilities by way of loans etc as Rs 30,54,314 and further liabilities by way of Government dues as Rs 2,64,734 but in his statement of assets and liabilities filed over a year later on 31st July 2013 before the Goa Lokayukta his liabilities were shown as Nil.

Rajendra Arlekar should have explained as to how within a short span of just over a year after becoming Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly he was able to clear his huge liabilities of Rs 30, 54,314 and also liabilities by way of Government dues of Rs 2, 64, 734.

Rajendra Arlekar in his affidavit on 9th February 2012 had shown his total income for the year 2010-2011 as a mere Rs 2, 76,671 which prima facie reveals that he concealed the real income earned by him from his HP petrol pump dealership “Om Shree Vetobaa” at Vasco. He continued with that Hindustan Petroleum petrol pump dealership illegally after becoming an MLA and Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly.

Clause 7 of the Hindustan Petroleum guidelines specifically requires that a person selected for the dealership of the petrol pump shall be paying attention towards day-to-day working of the petrol pump by personally managing the affairs of the petrol pump. The guidelines further mandate that the dealer of the petrol pump shall not be eligible for taking up any other employment. So as soon as Rajendra Arlekar became MLA he was duty bound to surrender the dealership to make way for somebody unemployed.

At the Goa Legislative Assembly which should have been the pinnacle of democracy Rajendra Arlekar as Speaker was very partisan. He was very successful in silencing the voice of the Opposition. It was repeatedly “Tum bos” (you sit) even before they stood.

After losing the 2017 Assembly elections and being in political wilderness since then it is Acche din again for the RSS Pracharak Rajendra Arlekar now as Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

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