Rajasthan High Court Clears Prosecution of Retired IAS Officer in ₹8 Crore Wheat Scam
The Rajasthan High Court has rejected a petition filed by retired IAS officer Nirmala Meena, who sought to quash the state government’s sanction to prosecute her in connection with the ₹8 crore wheat scam case.
A single-judge bench of Justice Sunil Beniwal ruled that the sanction granted by the state government was neither arbitrary nor unlawful, thereby allowing criminal proceedings to move forward.
Meena, who served as District Supply Officer (DSO) in Jodhpur in 2017, is accused of misusing wheat stocks and ordering excess supplies, allegedly causing large-scale financial irregularities. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Jaipur, had registered an FIR against her, followed by the filing of a chargesheet in 2018. The matter was then referred to the state government for prosecution sanction.
While the previous government withheld approval, the Bhajan Lal-led administration granted sanction on January 27 this year. Challenging this decision, Meena’s legal counsel argued that sanctioning prosecution nearly eight years after the FIR amounted to arbitrariness and abuse of authority.
Countering these claims, the state’s counsel maintained that judicial scrutiny over the grant of prosecution sanction is limited and emphasized the gravity of the allegations. “During her tenure as DSO, the petitioner is accused of diverting wheat worth crores and even spent nearly a month in judicial custody in relation to the case,” the counsel submitted.
After hearing both sides, Justice Beniwal dismissed Meena’s plea, thereby clearing the path for trial proceedings to continue against the retired bureaucrat.
