Lokayukta orders probe against senior IAS officer in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: A senior bureaucrat is in the soup for allegedly getting medical bills and allowances reimbursed by violating the rules of the organisation he had served six years back. The Lokayukta of Odisha on Tuesday ordered a probe into a graft case filed against the 1995-batch IAS officer on the charges of using his authority for the benefit of his relatives.

The anti-corruption panel has asked its Director of Inquiry to conduct an investigation to ascertain whether the bureaucrat was legally entitled to reimburse the medical bills against the expenses incurred by him towards the treatment of his father and wife.

The officer had allegedly got medical bills amounting to Rs 9,46,071 towards hospitalisation of his wife and father reimbursed during a three year period when he was Management-in-Charge of Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB).

The investigator will also find out whether the IAS officer was entitled for honorarium out of net profit of the bank as Management-in-Charge in addition to his substantive post as Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Department of Co-operation and whether he had reimbursed the medical bills and drawn the honorarium from OSCB by misutilising his power for his wrongful gain.

Viewing that there is a serious dispute regarding entitlement of reimbursement of the medical bills and drawal of the honorarium by the accused officer, the Lokayukta has asked the Director of Inquiry to submit the report within 60 days. 

In July 2019, RTI activist Srikant Pakal had moved the Lokayukta seeking legal action against the IAS officer and recovery of the amount paid from the State exchequer.

Apart from the reimbursement of medical bills, Pakal alleged, the officer had received an incentive of Rs 4,28,203 though he was not eligible for such incentive or bonus. Though there were recommendations from the State government for reimbursement in two phases on budget constraints with the Cooperation department and in one case there was no recommendation from the government, the bills were reimbursed in violation of rules.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) had also objected to the illegal payouts by OSCB as the officer was not a staff member of the bank as per staff service Rules, the activist pointed out.