Bhubaneswar: The Lokayukta has directed the Vigilance department to investigate an alleged misappropriation of funds worth over Rs 5 crore by some revenue officials of Jajpur in 2015.
The misappropriation unearthed through an RTI application revealed that several government officials of Jajpur tehsil including the then tehslidar, head clerk and nazirs were involved in the corruption.
The Lokayukta asked the Vigilance SP of Cuttack division to submit an action-taken report November 18.
According to sources, the complainant, Sarbeswar Behuria, a local RTI activist had sought the special audit report by the audit team of the Board of Revenue in Cuttack from the district magistrate office of Jajpur. The audit was conducted from April 2016 to August 2017.
The Special Audit Report (02/2017-2018) later submitted to the government revealed how around Rs 5 crore was misappropriated by the accused government officers.
Laxmikant Mishra, the then tehsildar of Jajpur, in connivance with his subordinates transferred huge amount of money meant to be paid to the land oustees as compensation.
The audit team has strongly recommended for departmental proceedings and /or prosecution at the earliest under various government rules.
Subsequently, another RTI revealed that the Vigilance department also registered a case (05/2018) on the basis of a complaint lodged in January 2018.
However, the Behuria approached the Lokayukta as the Vigilance took no action in this regard despite the lapse of more than a year to the registration of the case.
