The Hindu : Dubey case: Court hearing next month

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 13, 2003

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National

Dubey case: Court hearing next month

By Our Legal Correspondent

New Delhi Dec. 12. The Supreme Court today fixed January 5 for hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking a probe into the alleged leakage of the name of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) official, Satyendra Dubey, who had brought out the corruption in the golden quadrilateral project in Bihar. He was subsequently murdered.

A Bench comprising Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Justice G. P. Mathur posted the matter for January 5 when the petitioner advocate Rakesh U. Upadhyay sought an early listing. The petitioner sought a direction to the Centre to evolve a system, as recommended by the Constitution Review Committee in 2002, to ensure protection to a citizen/person complaining about a corrupt system and keep the complainant's name a secret. He wanted a CBI probe into the death of Dubey, who was an engineering graduate from the IIT.

The petitioner cited a newspaper report on the murder of Dubey, who was working as Deputy General Manager of the NHAI. Dubey had reportedly written to the Prime Minister about the alleged siphoning of money from the project in the Barachatti segment of Bihar.

The petitioner submitted that despite a request by the deceased not to divulge his name, his identity was disclosed, leading to his murder. He said that even in the absence of the Whistle Blower Act, the State had a fundamental duty to keep the name of complainants against corruption a secret to protect his fundamental right to life.

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