A Fact-sheet on “Chief Minister’s Zero Tolerance to Corruption”
( RTI Revelation)
Is it Fact or Media-hyped Propaganda?
Since August, 2019, Mass Media carrying front-page news from time to time about steps taken by Chief Minister, Odisha dismissing officers/ employees from the service on the ground of corruption , suspending pension of retired employees and giving compulsory retirement to the officers involved in corruption ( quoting press release issued from Chief Minister’s office). This step of the Chief Minister has been highlighted and glorified by Media. Keeping it in view, several RTI Applications quoting press news have been filed in the office of Chief Minister, Odisha seeking information about
i. Provide details of documents and files relating to decision taken by Chief Minister to dismiss 21 officers and employees from service with copy of file noting with their names with address and post held by them.
ii. Provide name of the retired officers and employees whose pension has been held up by Chief Minister , copy of the order of Chief minister along with copy of details of decision taken in this regard including copy of the file noting.
Every time, the PIO, office of the Chief Minister has denied the information on the ground of non-availability of the information. In response to RTI query filed dt. 14.7.20, the PIO, office of the Chief Minister replied on 18.7.20 that no such information sought for is available in this office , as disciplinary action is initiated by the respective departments of the Govt. But the question comes how the press statement mentioning number of officers / employees dismissed and pension of retired employees withheld was made from the Chief Minister’s office which has been reported by Media. As the press release is made from the Chief Minister’s office, the said information must be available following which the press statement is prepared.
Again, on 18.8.20, both Print and electronics media carried another news about 60 officers/ employees dismissed by Chief Minister , 17 employees given compulsory retirement and pension of 22 employees withheld. We again attempted to access this information by way of filling RTI Application dt. 24.8.20 to the PIO, office of Chief Minister, Dept. of GA &PG, Parliamentary Affairs , Govt. of Odisha seeking the following information to verify authenticity of the news.
a. Name of the officers and employees who have been dismissed by the Chief Minister on the ground of corruption as declared by Govt. , name of their Dept. and position held by them
b. Name of the officers and employees who have been given compulsory retirement by the Chief Minister on the ground of corruption , designation held by each of them, name of their department.
c. Name of the retired employees whose pension has been temporarily stopped and their department.
Like response of the PIO, office of the Chief Minister , the GA dept. declined to give detailed information but thankfully forwarded RTI Application to all the Departments and sub-ordinate offices across the state. Within the period of 3 months, the information from various department and offices started being flooded with us. The information was scrutinized and compiled. The compiled information is attached herewith.
https://odishasoochana.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-far-it-is-fact-has-really-chief.html
Analysis of the compiled information is as follows.
1. Total no. of 18 officers/ employees has been dismissed by the disciplinary authority of the concerned Department/ office not by Chief Minister. For Example, Sri Dharma Singh, Ex-Panchayat Executive Officer, Rairangpur block of Mayurhanj district was dismissed by the Collector, Mayurbhanj on the ground of corruption. The Chief Minister is no way concerned in this matter. This is the official procedure as per Odisha Civil service ( classification, control & Appeal) Rules,1962
2. In most of the cases , the Special Judge, vigilance has held the officers/ employees guilty and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment and imposed penalty. Following judgment of the vigilance court, the disciplinary authority has dismissed the officers/ employees. For Example, Sri Akhaya Kumar Behera, Ex-Senior Scientific Officer, Testing Laboratory, Berhampur under DEP&M, Odisha (MSME Dept.) was dismissed by the Dept. on 30.10.2019 after Special Judge , Vigilance in P.S. Case No. 29 dt. 4.7.2014 sentenced him rigorous imprisonment for 2 years on 1.6.2018.
3. In many cases, though the Special Vigilance Court held them guilty and sentenced rigorous imprisonment, the State Govt. has remained silence for several years without taking any action against these employees. For example, Sri Tapan Kumar Garnaik, Executive Engineer, Charbatia ( R&B) Division, Choudwar , Cuttack was dismissed from service on 28.2.20 by the secretary, dept. of works after the vigilance court convicted him on 24.4.2018. the role of the Chief Minister does not arise here.
4. As per RTI Document provided by different offices, total no. of eight employees/ officers whose pension have been temporarily stopped. It is very interesting to note here that The Govt. has suspended pension of the employees after they were convicted by the vigilance Court. The Govt. has not taken action promptly but waited so many years to take action . For example, On 30.4.2011, the Additional special Judge, Vigilance court , Bhubaneswar held Sri Arun Parida guilty of offence for showing undue favour to a private contractor during construction of high level bridge over river Bhargavi in the year 1995 and convicted him. He was retired in 1997. He challenged this order in High Court which is pending. After 10 years of judgement of vigilance Court , the Govt. withheld his pension permanently from 24.2.20.
5. The pension of Sri Gourang Charan Sahu (A), Ex-E.E., NESCO Utility was withheld permanently w.e.f. 14.1.20 consequent upon his conviction in Balasore P.S. Case No. 44 dt. 31.12.1998.
6. As per RTI information, seven no. of officers/ employees have been given compulsory retirement. We have tried to understand the reasons for their compulsory retirement. The compulsory retirement has been given few employees on the ground of ineffectiveness following the GA Dept. circular dt. 24.9.2019. There is no such serious corruption charges against these employees. For example, Sri Arun Kumar Behera, Deputy Director, Soil Conservation-cum-Project Director, Watershed, Malkangiri was given compulsory retirement from service on the ground of ineffectiveness on 16.3.20 by the Principal Secretary, Dept. of Agrl. Similarly, Sri Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, OFS-1(SB) of office of PCCF was given Premature retirement as per circular No. 27037 /Gen dt. 24.9.2019 of GA & PG Dept. on the ground of doubtful integrity and inefficiency.
Conclusion
1. In most of the cases, following the conviction of Special vigilance Court, the competent authorities have dismissed the employees or withheld their pension even after long years of the court judgement.
2. The media-hyped propaganda is a calculated move orchestrated from the Chief Minister’s office to glorify the Chief Minister in public domain as a crusader against corruption termed as “ Zero Tolerance to Corruption”. In fact this Chief Minister during his stint of 20 years has masterminded the corruption and mega scams like Chit Fund Scam, Mining Scam, Land Scam worth lakhs of crores of rupees in Odisha . During his regime, the corruption has been widespread across the state affecting each office starting from Gram panchayat to Chief Secretary to Chief minister, Odisha.
Pradip Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date- 23.12.20
No comments:
Post a Comment