Mumbai, Dec 29 (Mumbai Mirror): The BMC has issued show-cause notice to four of its employees for failing to put up a strong case in the Bombay High Court in connection with the alleged desilting scam. Last week, HC had stayed the civic body's decision to blacklist 32 contractors for shoddy execution of nullah-cleaning works worth Rs 150 crore.

The four staffers who have come in the line of fire are Vaibhav Boarkar (assistant engineer), Anil Jadhav (executive engineer), Vinod Mahadik (assistant law officer) and Aruna Savla (deputy law officer).

Sources said top civic officials were particularly upset when they learnt about the HC decision through the media. "In such important matters, it is the responsibility of the law officers and civic engineers concerned to brief their superiors about the development," said a senior BMC official.

The staffers have been asked to explain the reason for the communication gap and their failure to put up a strong case in the court, said the official. The contractors got a favourable order after contending in the HC that BMC punished them without giving them a chance to present their side.

Seeking to punch holes in the claim, civic authorities said they contractor had been asked by an internal probe committee to provide bills and evidence for the work they had done. "It was only after concluding that the contractors had fudged records, the decision to blacklist was taken. This clearly shows that we did give them a chance to come clean," added the senior official.

In September, BMC had suspended 14 civic officials and filed a police complaint against the contractors for committing fraud in the desilting work done before the rains - the scam came to light after city roads were waterlogged in the first shower of the season. The case is now being investigated by the Economic Offence Wing of Mumbai police.