Bhubaneswar: The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has asked Odisha chief secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena to take appropriate action on a complaint filed by BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi and Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal.
Sharing the letter of the DoPT, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi Tuesday informed this on her Twitter handle.
The letter was issued on the basis of a complaint along with a CD and pen drive submitted by the MP and the state BJP president on the alleged violations of the Conduct Rules by an Odisha cadre IAS officer.
“Government of India has taken cognisance of the violation of Conduct Rules by an officer in Odisha. Based on clear evidence of violation, DoPT has asked the Chief Secretary to take action as the state is the cadre-controlling authority. Hope law will be allowed to take its course,” Sarangi tweeted.
However, neither the BJP MP nor the letter has named the IAS officer against whom the complaint was filed.
Sarangi holding a press conference June 17 had alleged that a secretary-rank officer has hijacked the entire governance in the state. She had sought clarification from the Chief Minister on whether the officer has been attending public meetings with his permission. Though Sarangi has not named the officer, she was indicating the secretary to the Chief Minister, V.K. Pandian.
Pandian Monday played an audio of the CM at a public meeting in Barpali in which Naveen Patnaik told the people that he has sent the IAS officer so that they can narratel their grievances to him.
Meanwhile, Odisha Congress Campaign Committee chairman and former Odisha chief secretary Bijay Patnaik informed that he also wrote to the Centre, demanding disciplinary action against Pandian.
In his letter to the DoPT secretary, Patnaik claimed that the name of VK Pandian appears on a hoarding bearing the symbol of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the ruling party in Odisha.
The hoarding found at Hatibadi Road, Ram Nagar at Paralakhemundi in Gajapati district, proclaims that a sum of Rs 20 lakh has been sanctioned for a church during the August visit of Pandian. This is a clear violation of Rule 5 of the AIS Conduct Rules, he alleged.
“He (Pandian) goes to public meetings and claims that he has been deputed by the Chief Minister to represent the latter in making announcements of grants. No serving officer is permitted under the Conduct Rules to represent a political functionary in a public meeting,” Patnaik wrote in his letter.
Since the officer is presently working as the Private Secretary to the Chief Minister of Odisha, it is futile to expect the Chief Minister to take action against the officer for such violation of the Rules, he said.
Stating that these allegations are serious in nature and set a bad precedent for officers of the All India Services in the entire country, the Congress leader requested the DoPT secretary to conduct an enquiry against Pandian and take action at the earliest.
IANS
