Maneesh Pandey; India Today; New Delhi November 17, 2010
In an inexplicable show of alacrity that you don't associate the bureaucracy with, 11 signatures, including those of Delhi's lieutenant-governor (LG) and chief secretary, were obtained on one day to revoke the suspension of an official being probed in a corruption case.
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| Delhi's chief secretary and LG signed on the application of P.N. Jha on July 29. |
The speed with which the file moved across desks and buildings a day before the tainted official's superannuation date (July 31 this year), to allow him to retire honourably with all his service benefits in place, has taken Delhi government insiders by surprise.
P. N. Jha, deputy director in the social welfare department of the Delhi government, and ten others had been arrested in a Rs 10-crore procurement scam, involving homes for destitute children in July this year, nearly two years after investigations began in the case, which relates to the 2005-06 financial year. Insiders aware of the case allege that though the case was filed for only one financial year, the department has been mired in corruption for the last ten years.
The case was registered in 2008 after the Delhi Policeaffiliated NGO Pratidhi got the forged quotations from the department using the RTI route. The officials, who were part of the purchase committee in 2005-'06, were arrested at regular intervals, the last being Jha and two officials of the rank of superintendent - Krishan Kumar and B. S. Tolia - on July 14, 2010. They were sent to judicial custody and placed under "deemed suspension" under the service rules.
"It is from this stage that Jha's colleagues and seniors rallied behind him to get his suspension revoked," Raj Mangal of Pratidhi says.
The matter of action to be taken against Jha came up before Delhi's chief secretary Rakesh Mehta on July 22, sent to Tejinder Khanna on July 25 and the official was placed under deemed suspension on July 26.
Within two days, the officials backing Jha moved another application to revoke his suspension.
The file moved from the chief secretary to the LG's office and went back to the chief secretary on July 29, the very day the file was first moved.
The next day, on July 30, it passed 11 desks, including those of social welfare secretary and the director of the department's vigilance branch.
The order revoking the suspension was issued on July 30.
Jha retired on July 31 with all benefits he could get under the service rules. Surprisingly, the file passed the the desks of the lt-governor and chief secretary twice on the same day, but neither raised the question of possible " mala fide" intentions behind the movement of the file.
All this came to light because of an RTI application filed by Pratidhi with the vigilance branch of the social welfare department. "The file noting is shows the extent to which Jha's seniors were protecting him. It only indicates that the ring of corruption may be bigger that it is made out to be," Raj Mangal says.
Interestingly, the two officers suspended along with Jha remain suspended.
One of the notings made by Manoj Parida, secretary (social welfare), points out: "There was no need for this judicial custody after five years. This is a product of a gang rivalry within the department. ... However, it is requested that when any Class I officer is arrested by the anti-corruption branch, the secretary should be informed in advance by ACB officers."
A strange rationale! Parida had even gone to the extent of requesting the LG on behalf of Jha to reinstate the officer, saying, "He has requested for his reinstatement so that he can retire on duty." The LG did not, naturally, act on this request.
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