Karnataka: Speaker suspends assembly secy Murthy

BENGALURU: Assembly secretary S Murthy has been suspended for allegedly siphoning off large sums of money, including purchase of mosquito nets for fields where protests were held opposite the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi.

With allegations of misappropriation on 23 counts over two winter sessions in Belagavi during 2016 and 2017, a five-member committee submitted a 20-page report which alleges that Murthy had submitted bills on official letterheads and got civil works done without proper authorisation.

According to t he suspension order accessed by STOI, Murthy has been accused of spending Rs 1.8 crore on mosquito nets including those for kalyan mantaps and even for prote st sites. The accusations suggest that the work orders for mosquito nets were issued after “misuse” of the Belagavi commissioner of police’s letter which allegedly sought these for kalyan mantaps. “The letter appears to have been misused as the words are in different fonts and it sought only for mosquito nets for doors and windows of the kalyan mantaps where lodging f acilities were provided for cops,” the report said.

The report adds that a spot inspection of locations in 2017 had suggested there was no evidence of these mosquito nets being put up at protest sites which were in fields adjoining the SVS. “Even as we question the requirement for these mosquito nets at the protest sites, in plain fields, there appears to be no evidence of them being even put up,” read the report.

The c ommittee report also spoke of “serious doubts” over civil works, including painting and polishing work taken up by Murthy ahead of the 2017 winter session. “The polishing work for 12,691sqm was carried out at an expense of Rs 1.21 crore and was said to be completed in four days, prior to the winter session. This appears to be doubtful,” says the report.

The report claims a similar case in terms of painting of the entire interiors of SVS which was commissioned at Rs 2.48 crore. Even in the painting case, the project was said to be completed within five days for an area of 1.56 lakh square metres. The committee noted that both the polishing and painting work did not have proper billing or technical approvals from either the PWD or any other authorised department.

The committee said there was misappropriation in food served to VIPs, VVIPs and bureaucrats where Rs 2.46 crore was spent on providing 54,550 plates of food for 10 days at the SVS during the 2017 session. “Of this, we believe there is no count of 10,090 plates of food which was served,” reads the report. It states there were high irregularities in billings and commissioning of works which lacked proper sanctions.