Declaration of asset by Got. servants in Odisha- At Cross-road

 

Declaration of Chief Minister  to make Property Statement of Govt. servants public -  Another Media Propaganda to deceive  the people  of Odisha- How

On the  one hand,  the  Govt.  does not allow  the  property statement  of  public servants  to be disclosed despite provision of Odisha Lokayukta Act,  on the  other hand Chief Minister   gives  emphasis  on  public  disclosure  of assets  by  the  Public Servants.  This  is sheer  mockery.

1.       As per  All India  Service  conduct Rules  and odisha Civil service  ( CC&A) Rules, 1962 , each Govt. servant is required  to   give  property statement  to  their   higher authority  in every  year.

 2.       As  per section 44 (2)   of the  Odisha Lokayukta Act,2014 ( Declaration of assets)-   A Public Servant  shall,  within a period  of thirty days from the  date on which  he makes  and subscribes  an oath or affirmation  to enter upon his office ,  furnish  to the  competent  authority  the  information relating  to

(a)     the assets  of which  he, his  spouse and his dependents  children  are are jointly, severally , owners of beneficiaries

(b)   His liabilities  and that  of  his spouse  and  his dependent  children

 Section 44 (3)- A Public  servant  holding his office   at the  time of commencement  of the Act  shall  furnish  information  relating  to such  assets  and liabilities  within ninety  days  of the  coming into force  of this Act.

Section 44(4)-  Every  public servant  shall file  with  the  competent  authority  on or  before  the  thirty-first July  of every  year, an annual report  such assets  and liabilities as on thirty-first  March  of that year.

Section 444(5) – This  information shall be  furnished  to the  competent  authority  in such  form  and in such manner  as may  be  prescribed

Section 44 (6)-  The  competent authority  in respect  of each  Department shall ensure  that all  such statements  are  published  on the website  of such department by thirty-first August of that year.

The analysis  of this  section is  that  Each  Public  authority  shall  file  their  property  statement with  the  competent  authority  by  thirty-first July  of every year   which  will  be  uploaded  in website by thirty-first August of every year.

 3.          Though  Odisha Lokayukta Act  was enacted  in 2014 ,  the  State Govt. notified on 7^th July 2018  for  enforcement  of the Act.

4.          On 13^th September, 2019, the  Govt. of Odisha amended  the  Act  as the Odisha Lokayukta ( amendment) Act, 2019 . Under  this  amendment, section 44 ( declaration of asset)  and  57( power to make Rules) ( k and i )  was amended making  provision  of  the  Rules to be  made for   prescribing  form and manner  of declaration of asset  and liabilities by the public servants under section 44 which will be enforced retrospectively i.e., implementation of the Act.  

5.        In the  meantime, The  Lokayukta, Odisha  has  presented to Govt.   a draft Rules i.e., The Odisha Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2019   for  its  implementation. 

 

6.       Though two  years passed  since  implementation of the  Act,  the  State Govt. has not  yet framed the Rules  for   prescribing  form and manner  for  declaration of assets  by the  public servants.  This  is the  biggest  stumbling block  for  bringing  transparency  in  the administration.

7.       On the  one hand,  the  Govt.  does not allow  the  property statement  of  public servants  to be disclosed despite provision of Odisha Lokayukta Act,  on the  other hand Chief Minister   gives  emphasis  on  public  disclosure  of assets  by  the  Public Servants.  This  is sheer  mockery.

 

Prepared by Pradip Pradhan , M-9937843482

Date- 23.12.20

“How Far It is Fact ?” Has really Chief Minister dismissed any employees, as Media Propagates?

 

Media-hyped News about Dismissal of  the  officers  and employees by  Chief Minister, Odisha

“How Far It is Fact ?”  Has really Chief Minister dismissed any employees, as Media Propagates?

RTI Exposed the authenticity of Information.

 

After Media  highlighting, covering  front-page news    and  glorifying    Chief Minister’s    action against Corruption termed as   “ Zero Tolerance to Corruption”  by way of dismissing  number  of  officers  and employees  from service and withholding  pension  of the employees  on  ground of corruption in 2019 and 2020, Multiple RTI Applications  dt. 3.9.2019, 14.7.20 were  filed by Pradip Pradhan, Srikant Pakal ,  Santosh Mohanty and many others   to the  office  of the  Chief Minister ,  Dept. of Parliamentary Affairs , Dept. of GA &PG , Govt. of  Odisha  to access  the  following information

 

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. .

 

The  PIO, office  of the  Chief Minister  categorically  denied  the  information  , as the said  information  is  not at all available  in the  CM’S office. On query about copy of the press release, the PIO replied that it is available in public domain.  We searched the website of Chief Minister’s office, but could not get any information about press release. We  had  also approached  many media  people  to get  the  copy  of the press  release  issued  from the  office  of Chief Minister, but  in vain, as  everyone  expresses  their  helplessness.

 

The issue before  us   is how  the  office  of Chief Minister  got  the  information   about  number  of employees dismissed  and pension withheld, when  media  reports  and highlights it. However, another attempt  was  made  to  access the said  information and unearth  truth  and  the  politics  behind  this   news  about CM  dismissing  employees  from service  on ground  of  corruption.  On 24.8.20.,  Sri Sarbeswar Behura, RTI Activist   filed  RTI Application  in the  office  of General Administration and PG, Govt. of Odisha  seeking  the  following  information from June-2019  to August-2020   attaching   copy  of the news published  in the  news papers  “ the  Chief Minister  has  dismissed  60 employees  from service  on the  ground of  corruption”.

 

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.

 

Thanks to God,  the PIO  without  denying  the  information, forwarded  RTI Application  to all  the  Departments  to  provide  information which  was again  forwarded  to all  sub-ordinate offices  by the  concerned departments  across the state. Within last  three months , the supply   of information from various offices still continues and getting flooded with us.   This  information  really  exposed  who has  dismissed  the  public servants  and its  ground of  dismissal. The details of officers dismissed, ground of their dismissal and name of the authority who dismissed are as follows.

 

Employees  dismissed  on the  ground of  corruption
Sl.No	Name  of the  officers and employees , position held   with  dept.	Department		Details of  dismissal
1	Sri Akhaya Kumar Behera, Ex-Senior  Scientific Officer, Testing Laboratory, Berhampur  under DEP&M, Odisha ( MSME Dept.)	MSME Dept		He 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
2	Sri Dharma Singh, Ex-Panchayat Executive Officer, Rairangpur  block  of Mayurhanj  district	Collector, Mayurbhanj		He was dismissed on 17.12.2019 by The  Disciplinary authority- Collector, Mayurhanj
3	Sri Jibesh Chandra  Rath, Deputy Executive Engineer  under Bhubaneswar ( R&B) Division-1, Bhubaneswar	Works Department		Secretary, Dept. of  Works
4	Sri Tirupati Venkateswar Pani  Asst. Engineer, Rural Works , Dasapalla , Dist-Nayagarh	Works Department		DO
5	Sri Tapan Kumar Garnaik, Executive  Engineer, Charbatia ( R&B) Division, Choudwar , Cuttack	Works Department		The Special Judge (vigilance) , Sundaragarh  in his judgement dt. 24.4.2018 held Garnaik guilty  of undue official favour to the  contractor  and sentenced  him to undergo rigorous  imprisonment  for 2 years  and to pay Rs. 10,000.00. On 28.2.20, the Secretary, Dept. of Works dismissed him from service.
6	Sri Pruthwiraj Lenka, Asst. Executive Engineer, under Berhampur N.H. Division,	Works Department		DO
7	Sri Krustna Mohan Dash, VLW-cum-PEO, Karlamunda Block  of Kalahandi district	Collector, Kalahandi		He was  dismissed by the Collector, Kalahandi  on the ground of corruption.
8	Sri Ashok Kumar  Saha, PEO, Thuamul Ram pur Block	DO		DO
9	Sri Padma Mukha Sabar, PEO, Narla Block	DO		DO
10	Chudamani Murmu, Protection Officer, office of DSWO,  Nayagarh	WCD Dept.		Chief Minister , Odisha
11	Shri H.K.Panda , Forest Ranger	Office  of Conservation of forest , Angul		Office  of Conservation of forest , Angul
12	Sri Prabasi Sethy, Ex-DDA, Kalahandi	Directorate  of Agriculture & Food Production		Removal from Govt. service vide A&FE Deptt. order  No. 9922 dt. 31.5.2019
13	Sri Birendranath Mishra, Ex-Soil Chemist , Bhawanipatna	DO		Removal from Govt. service vide A&FE Deptt. order  No. 17736 dt. 25.9.2019
14	Sri Astam Chandra Patel, Ex-PEO, Subdega Block	Collectorate of Sundaragarh		Special Judge (Vigilance), Sundaragarh  in his judgement  dt. 2.12.2017 held him  guilty of gross misconduct and  corruption , convicted and sentenced him rigorous  imprisonment for   one year  and to pay Rs. 10,000.00.
15	Sri Trilochan Seth, Ex-PIO, Tangarpali Block	DO		Special Judge (Vigilance), Sundaragarh  in his judgement  dt. 20.9.2017 held him  guilty of gross misconduct and  corruption , convisted and sentenced him rigorous  imprisonment for  four years  and to pay Rs. 1 lakh .
16	Sri Dileswar  Dehury , Ex-Auditor District Audit Office, LFA, Sundargarh	Directorate  of Local Fund Audit, Bhubaneswar
17	Sri Sridhar Sethi, Ex-Auditor District Audit Office, LFA, Sundargarh	DO
18	Sri Rajendra Tripathy , Ex-Auditor District Audit Office, LFA, Boudh	DO
Employees  granted  compulsory  retirement
1	Sri Sirish  Chandra Mishra Ex-Panchayat Executive Officer , Raruan Block , Mayurhanj district	Panchayat Raj Dept.	The Collector, Mayurhanj   granted  compulsory retirement  basing on  the  departmental  proceeding vide Memorandum  No. 1536 dt. 9.8.2017.
2	Sri Pradeep Kumar Mohanty, Ex-CDAO Koraput	Directorate  of Agriculture & Food Production	Premature  retirement  from Govt. service vvide A& FE Deptt. order No. 12759 dt. 17.8.2020
3	Sri Arun Kumar Behera, Deputy Director, Soil Conservation-cum-Project  Director, Watershed, Malkangiri	Dept. of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment	Premature  retirement  was accorded  from service  on the  ground of ineffectiveness  on 16.3.20 by  the  Principal Secretary, Dept.  of Agrl.
4	Sri Satyapriya Samantaray, Deputy  Director Coffee Development , Koraput	Dept. of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment	Premature  retirement  was accorded  from service  on the  ground of ineffectiveness  on 16.3.20 by  the  Principal Secretary, Dept.  of Agrl.
5	Sri Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, OFS-1(SB)	Office of PCCF, Odisha	Premature  retirement  was  given  as per  circular No. 27037 /Gen dt. 24.9.2019  of GA & PG Dept.  on the  ground of doubtful  integrity  and inefficiency.
6	Sri  SARAT Chandra Panda, OFS-1(SB)	DO	DO
7	Dr. Bihu Prasad Sarangi, Director , AYUSH	Health  and Family Welfare  Dept.	He has been compulsory retirement  GA &PG Department  Order  No. 18397/Gen dt. 13.8.20
Employees  whose pension has been temporarily  stopped
1	Sri Udayanath Swain , Ex-Assistant  Engineer  of N.H.Division, Deogarh	Works Dept.	No  reason  is mentioned
2	Sri Jagannath Hansda , retired Draftry	Dept. of GA &PG( Rent)	His  pension  has  been temporarily stopped  due to non-submission  of pension papers  and required  document for  sanction of  pension.
3	Someswar Sabat ( retired) Ex-Soil Conservation  Extension  Worker	Directorate of Soil Conservation and Watershed Development	His  pension has been temporarily  withheld . No  reason cited.
4	Sri Arun Charan Parida, Ex-Executive Engineer  under  deputation to O.B.&C.C. Ltd.	Works Department	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 , the  Govt.  withheld his pension  permanently  from 24.2.20. as per  O.C.S. (CC&A) Rules, 1962.
5	Sudhir  Kumar Brajendra Narayan , EX-MD, O.B.&C.C. Ltd.  retired  as Engineer-in-chief	Works Department	On 30.4.2011, the  Additional special Judge, Vigilance court , Bhubaneswar  held Sri Brajendra Narayan   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 1999. He challenged this order   in High  Court which is pending.  After 10 years, the  Govt.  withheld his pension  permanently  from 24.2.20. as per  O.C.S. (CC&A) Rules, 1962.
6	Sri Gourang Charan Sahu (A), Ex-E.E., NESCO  Utility	Department  of Energy	His pension was withheld  permanently  w.e.f. 14.1.20  consequent upon  his conviction  in Balasore  P.S. Case No. 44 dt. 31.12.1998.
7	Nilamani Satapathy	Planning and Convergence  Dept.	No reason  cited
8	Sri Mahadev Ghosh, Senior Clerck ( Retired)	Office  of the Deputy  Director, Similipal South  Wildlife Division, Baripada	His  salary  has been stopped  due  to vigilance  case.

 

Prepared  by

Pradip Pradhan

M-9937843482

Date- 23.12.20