Absence of regular Director at Agri Dept : Fraudulent withdrawal cited as the reason
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 13 2014 : Absence of a regular Director in the State Agriculture Department is linked to fraudulent withdrawal of money from the department's account without the Government's encashment permission by some people.

According to a well placed source in the Agriculture Department, the Government is till unable to take a concrete decision on who should succeed G Shamu Kabui as Agriculture Director.

After Shamu Kabui retired on February 28 this year, the Government is still indecisive whether the next Director should be appointed from amongst the officials involved in fraudulent withdrawal of fund or someone else should be appointed.

During the period of retired Director L Palendro, allocations were made to DDOs for a sum of around Rs one crore.

Along with the allocations, sanction orders were also issued by Director L Palendro.

As sanctioned by the Director, the DDOs attempted to encash the sanctioned amounts in connivance with relevant Treasury officers.

Some smart DDOs succeeded in encashing the allocated amounts even if some other DDOs could not.

Informing that the total amount sanctioned by the Director was around Rs one crore, the source informed that some DDOs succeeded in encashing Rs 22,55,000 .

After Director L Palendro was succeeded by G Shamu Kabui, a report was submitted to the Government about fraudulent withdrawal of fund without the Government's encashment permission.

Based on the report, the Government took up a Vigilance case.

After investigation, the Central Vigilance Commission headed by the Chief Secretary as chairman pronounced that Director Palendro, Rice Breeder Wangbal District Training Officer, DAO Ukhrul, DAO Tamenglong, DAO Bishnupur and DAO Thoubal guilty.

It recommended a departmental enquiry against these officials and award them major penalty apart from recovering the amount fraudulently withdrawn from them under the Personal Liability Act.

The directive of the Central Vigilance Commission was also reflected in the annual report of Home Department.

There are five officials who are eligible for the post of Director after the retirement of G Shamu Kabui.

The two officials listed in serial no 1 and serial no 2 are among the seven officials found guilty for fraudulent withdrawal of fund.

It is the responsibility of the Director to control the department's budget and check utilization of fund.

Here the Government is in a dilemma whether the officials known for financial indiscipline should be appointed Director or who should be appointed Director.

The matter was discussed in a meeting of the high power committee headed by the Chief Secretary as chairman.

The recommendation of initiating departmental enquiry was also mooted at the meeting but no concrete decision has been adopted so far, added the source.

Comment