Complaint under Section 37 (4)(c) of Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014
To Date- 9.3.21
His Excellency Prof. Ganeshi Lal
Hon’ble Governor, Odisha
Raj Bhawan, Bhubaneswar
Sub- Seeking action against Chairman Odisha Lokayukta Justice Ajit Singh under Section 37 (4)(c) of Odisha Lokayukta Act, 2014
Ref: Order of Odisha Lokayukta No. LY- 1248/2020 dated 17.02.2021 issued by a Lokayukta Bench comprising Justice Ajit Singh Chairperson and his Companion Member
Esteemed Sir,
We, the following signatories who are anti-corruption activists and users of Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014 for our fight against corruption of public servants, would like to urge your esteemed authority to peruse the following complaint of ours and take action deemed proper by way of exercising your power under Section 37( (4) (c ) of the said Act-
1. In order to apprise your august office on the rationale of the above complaint we beg to narrate a summary of the facts and circumstances that made us to file it before your esteemed authority and we fervently hope that your august office shall pass an appropriate order in the matter to meet the ends of justice and probity.
2. As your august office might know, Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd. (OMFED) is a registered Apex Cooperative Society engaged in procurement and distribution of milk for the financial upliftment of dairy farmers and also for the benefit of consumers of milk and milk products in the State of Odisha. As your august office might further know, OMFED procures poly-film through an annual tender process for packaging of liquid milk for distribution among the consumers.
3. During the period of 2015-16, there occurred an alleged scam amounting to Rs. 6.35 crore in the process of procurement of poly-film during the tenure of Sri Bishnupada Sethy, IAS the then Managing Director, OMFED. It was reported by his successor Sri Madusudan Padhi as Managing Director, OMFED to the Chief Secretary, Odisha in a letter dt.1.12.16 seeking a fair and comprehensive inquiry into the said scam.
4. After getting informed about the alleged scam Sri Pradip Pradhan, the present Complainant had filed a complaint dt. 30.10.20 under Section 20 of Odisha Lokayukta Act before the Hon’ble Lokayukta, Odisha seeking a proper inquiry into the alleged “corruption in procurement of Poly Film packaging material” procured through M/s Kamala Agency during the period from August 2015 to June 2016 by Sri Bishnupada Sethi, IAS the then Managing Director, OMFED (presently Principal Secretary, Department of Culture, Odia and Odia Language) in league with other officials of OMFED.
5. The said complaint made before the Lokayukta, was based on a bunch of corroborative documents, such as (a) letter dt. 1.12.2016 of Madhuduan Padhi, the then Managing Director, OMFED written to Chief Secretary, Odisha seeking inquiry into a huge loss incurred by OMFED due to the supply of Poly Film by M/s IDMC, Anand through M/s Kamala Agency, Cuttack during August, 2015 to June, 2016; ( b) Note-sheet dt. 3.4.2017 sent by Sri C.S.Kumar IAS, the next Managing Director of OMFED to the Chief Secretary, Odisha for an inquiry by a senior officer of Finance Department; ( c ) letter dt. 9.12.2020 written by President of OMFED to the Chief Minister, Odisha pointing out a loss of Rs. 6.40 crore in the procurement of Poly Film; and (d) Audit Report of the office of Accountant General, Odisha which had highlighted an avoidable loss of Rs. 4 crore. Further, the complainant Pradip Pradhan along with others did also submit a Memorandum dt.28.9.2018 to His Excellency Governor Odisha which was enclosed in the Complaint before the Lokayukta, and sought for his good offices to ensure a comprehensive and impartial inquiry into the subject matter of his complaint.
6. On taking cognizance of the said complaint, the Bench-1 headed by Justice Ajit Singh, Chairperson of Lokayukta and his accompanying Member Sri Debabrata Swain served a notice each to the Chief Secretary, Odisha and Mr. Bishnupada Sethy to file their respective replies thereto.
7. On 17.2.2021 the Bench-1 of Lokayukta comprising Justice Ajit Singh Chairperson and Sri Debarata Swain, Member heard the case for first time and closed it on the said day, citing the strength of two earlier held inquiry reports dt. 22.4.2017 and 29.3.2019 submitted by Chief Secretary, Odisha and Mr. Bishnupada Sethy respectively. It is worth mentioning here that the first one, that is, the inquiry report dt. 22.4.2017 had been prepared as per the order of Chief Secretary by three subordinate Departmental officers- Director AH & VS, Joint Secy. (Fisheries) & Joint Secy. (Veterinary), all under the control and guidance of Mr. Bishnupada Sethy, the then Secretary, Dept. of Veterinary and ARD, Govt. of Odisha, the very person against whom the complaint was lodged. It is further noteworthy that the decision of the Chief Secretary for administrative inquiry was objected by Sri C. S. Kumar, the then Managing Director of OMFED on 3.4.3017. Strangely enough, such a sham enquiry was held again by officials of same department even after the objection was raised by Sri C. S. Kumar on the ground of administrative impropriety, along with his suggestion for instituting a separate inquiry by a senior officer of Finance Dept. As for the second inquiry, it had been conducted on 29.3.2019 by the Finance Advisor, Dept. of Veterinary and ARD on the orders of Hon’ble Governor, Odisha in pursuance to the Complainant’s Memorandum dt. 28.9.2018 addressed to His Excellency seeking an impartial inquiry into the matter.
8. It is worth recollecting that the aforesaid Lokayukta Bench while passing their Order dated 17.02.2021 made inter alia the following observation, “It is sad that the complainants have suppressed the fact that on their complaint made to the Hon’ble Governor no action was taken”. But it is humbly submitted that the said observation is unfounded and slanderous. Because, as a matter of fact, the Finance Advisor of Dept. of F & ARD, while conducting the enquiry as ordained by His Excellency Governor Odisha, did neither inform the complainant nor share with him the fact or findings of his inquiry report. During the hearing of the complaint, the complainant emphatically and repeatedly clarified this very matter before the Hon’ble Lokayukta Bench-1 saying that he was completely unaware about the said enquiry report. However, the Chairperson Lokayukta who was presiding over the Bench did not pay any heed to the repeated clarification given by the Complainant and rather preferred to foist a biased and false allegation against the Complainant. It won’t be out of place to mention here that such an arbitrary, derogatory, biased and prejudicial stance of the Chairperson Lokayukta adopted against the Complainant as revealed from the impugned Order dated 17.02.2021, served a pre-meditated and pre-determined intent of the Chairperson Lokayukta himself, that is, to cover up the scam and shield its perpetrator Sri Bishnupada Sethy, on one hand and to malign and scandalize the complainant on the other.
9. Besides, the Lokayukta, while hearing the complaint had deliberately ignored two other documents i.e., Audit report of the office of Accountant General, Bhubaneswar dt. 26.5.2017 which had identified serious irregularities in poly film procurement and letter dt.9.12.2016 sent by Chairperson, OMFED to the Chief Minister, Odisha. It needs to be mentioned that the resolution passed in the 101th Board meeting of OMFED while appreciating the report of Sri Madhusudan Padhi the erstwhile MD of OMFED, had decided to withhold the amount payable to Kamala Agency, Cuttack. Again, as per the report of Chief Secretary which had been produced before the Lokayukta, Odisha, the pending payment amounting to Rs. 3, 31, 49, 180.54 had not been paid till then to M/s Kamala Agency, indicating thereby brazenly visible loss to this extent during the tenure of Mr. Bishnupada Sethy as MD of OMFED. This withheld amount till date proves the extra commission amount allowed to M/S Kamala Agency. Such order of Lokayukta gives scope for this Agent to claim the amount Rs. 3.31 crore as a matter of right, unless this order of the Lokayukta is set aside.
10. It needs to be further mentioned that the Chairperson Lokayukta while blindly relying on the pre-existing two enquiry reports which were orchestrated ones as mentioned above, completely avoided seeking any views from Sri Madhusudan Padhi, the successor to Sri Bishnupada Sethy as MD OMFED, who had first detected the loss caused due to Sri Sethy’s mishandling of Poly Film procurement. Not only that. The Chairperson Lokayukta went to the extent of blemishing Sri Madhu Sudan Padhi, that “ the complaint of Madhu Sudan Padhi was not well intentioned” - fact which lays bare the intention of Chairperson Lokayukta to hush up anyhow the allegation of corruption, favoritism and abuse of power leveled against Sri Bishnupada Sethy as MD OMFED.
11. In view of the facts and circumstances narrated above, we are of the view that Justice Sri Ajit Singh, Chairperson, Lokayukta has patently failed to discharge his statutory obligations as required of him, precisely on the following grounds-
(a) Reliance on two pre-existing, orchestrated enquiry reports prepared under the influence of the alleged culprit Sri Bishnupada Sethy, instead of ordering a fresh and comprehensive enquiry into the complaint lodged against him, as required under Section 14(1) of Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014;
(b) Failure to give an opportunity of hearing to Sri Madhusudan Padhi the former MD OMFED, who had originally advanced the allegation of corruption against his predecessor Sri Bishnupada Sethy in the matter of alleged arbitrary mishandling of Poly Film procurement that resulted in a huge loss over few crores to the concerned PSU- as required under Second Proviso to Section 20(1) of Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014;
(c) Failure to identify the factors and accuse the actors responsible for the alleged financial loss caused to a thriving PSU of Odish like OMFED during the tenure of Sri Bishnupada Sethy as MD OMFED as reported by his successor Sri Madhusudan Padhi- a fact which indicates a chronic inability of Chairman Odisha Lokayukta to comprehend the letter and spirit of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, the quintessential rationale for enactment of Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014; and
(d) Failure to place on record the statement of facts of the Complainant Sri Pradip Pradhan expressed in course of the hearing, as is evident from the deficient, truncated and biased Order dated 17.02.2021 of Lokayukta- a fact which indicates intellectual inefficiency, non-application of mind and judicial prudence on the part Lokayukta Chairperson.
12. We therefore pray before your Excellency Sir to order an action deemed proper against Justice Sri Ajit Singh Chairman Lokayukta, Odisha on the ground of mental infirmity in exercise of the powers vested in Governor Odish under Section 37(4)(c) and simultaneously to pass another Order deemed appropriate, in the capacity of Executive Head of the State under Article 154(1) of Constitution, for institution of an impartial and comprehensive enquiry covering all the parties mentioned in our Complaint dated 30.10.2020 and exploring all angles thereto, so as to unearth the factors and actors responsible for the huge financial loss caused to a thriving PSU of the State OMFED, during the tenure of Sri Bishnupada Sethy as its MD.
Yours sincerely
Pradip Pradhan Sudhir Mohanty
State Convener Advocate, High Court, Odisha
Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan Member,
National Co-Convener, NCPRI Odisha Durniti Sangharsh Manch
Member, Advisory Group of NHRC, New Delhi Bhubaneswar , M-9861063290
Plot No-D-27, Maitree Vihar
Post-Rail Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751023
M-9937843482
Debesh Das
Advisor, Odisha Lokayukta Abhijan
Advisor , OSAA
Cuttack , M- 9937253883
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