Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur of Calcutta High Court on Thursday took serious exception to an irregularity that has surfaced in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) fund disbursal here, calling it a "deliberate" misappropriation and not an "error" as argued by the state government lawyer.

In a case dating back to 2021, money allotted to a few beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) was transferred to the bank accounts of a few other people at Canning in South 24-Parganas.

Justice Kapur observed that the court's primary finding was that the amount allotted under that scheme had been siphoned off. The judge ordered the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the irregularities.

The judge issued the order in response to a petition filed by Canning resident Sirajul Islam and four others.

The residents of Itakhola village of Canning Block 1 had applied for funds under the PMAY in 2021.

As no amount was deposited in their account for a long period, these residents started asking local-level authorities about it.

Finally, they learnt that the funds meant for them had been allotted to accounts of other villagers who had not even applied under the scheme.

Reportedly getting no remedy from the government, they moved high court last year.

On Thursday, Justice Kapur observed: "The court primarily held that the money allotted to people under this scheme had been misappropriated deliberately and the issue needs thorough investigation."

The lawyer appearing for the state claimed that the fund had been erroneously sent to other accounts.

However, Justice Kapur did not accept this argument.

He said: "Certainly not. The amounts were deliberately deposited in other accounts."

Later in his order, the judge said that the phone number of the local BDO and panchayat pradhan should immediately be submitted before the court.

He also stated that there should be a full-fledged inquiry into the issue to identify the culprits.

After the five villagers had moved the court last year, Justice Kapur had set up a committee to investigate the matter.

The court-appointed committee, in its report on Thursday, stated its findings. The report said that the first installments allotted to Sirajul and four others were sent to two other persons in Canning, while three installments released later were sent to six other accounts.

After going through the report, the judge delivered the order.

The case will be again heard after two weeks.