A deputy election commissioner responsible for the arrest of those evading warrants during the West Bengal assembly elections is himselg trying to evade a non-bailable arrest warrant for allegedly leasing out jaipur's famous Jal Mahal to a private party for a song.

The election commission is caught in a "catch-22" situation as the 55-year old Vinod Zutsi, a Rajasthan cadre IAS officer of 1982 batch, is tasked with handling Uttar Pradesh elections. But he is not attending office as he would be served a legal notice if he does.

His batchmates say the Madhya Pradesh-born Zutsi has a clean record and the police had wanted to close the case filed by a citizen. A Jaipur judge rejected closure applications thrice and has now issued the arrest warrant against him and Navratan Kothari of Jal Mahal Resorts Private Limited which got the palace and 100 acres of land on lease for 90 years.

Zutsi was the chairman of the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) in 2005-06 when the deal was struck. Additional chief judicial magistrate Suresh Prakash Bhatt described the deal as cheating highlighting irregularities benefitting the private firm. He has also made other RTDC functionaries respondents in the case.

The judge observed that there was substance in the complaint against the officials led by Zutsi of conspiring and overstepping powers to lease out the land. He also noted that the lease violated the maximum lease (30 years) clause.

The Jal Mahal and its sprawling lawns belonged to the Jaipur Development Authority, but they were transferred to RTDC for the purpose of tourism.