Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Sunday indicated that the government may order an investigation into allegations that reports of two judicial commissions went missing from the CMO during the previous BJD regime.
If such allegations are received, the government will conduct an investigation, Majhi told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Khurda district.
The issue has triggered a political row, with the ruling BJP and opposition BJD trading charges over the alleged disappearance of the reports.
The controversy erupted after Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan claimed that reports of two important judicial commissions were stolen from the CMO during the previous BJD government.
Two of the most important reports of separate commissions were stolen from the CMO during the previous BJD government. We are going to take a decision in this regard very soon, Harichandan said.
He further said that strict action will be taken against the persons responsible for stealing the inquiry commission reports from the CMO.
Referring to criticism from opposition leaders, he added, Some opposition party friends on social media have started raising questions on when the inquiry will be done on the missing reports. Wait… the day the inquiry is conducted, that party (BJD) will further lose its base.
BJD MLA and former law minister Arun Kumar Sahoo questioned the allegations and asked the government to clarify which commission reports had allegedly gone missing.
Did the files go missing from the Chief Minister’s Office, or were they deliberately made to disappear by the present government Sahoo asked at a press conference.
He also sought details of file movement records and CCTV footage, alleging that the government must explain how files could disappear despite the existence of an online file management system.
Sahoo said the disappearance of files from the CMO was a serious issue linked to public trust and demanded that the government disclose the facts and fix accountability.
Sources said one of the reports yet to be made public relates to the judicial inquiry into the missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar of the Jagannath Temple in Puri.
The 324-page report was submitted in November 2018 but has not been tabled in the Assembly.
Another pending report pertains to the judicial probe into the 2008 murder of VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, after which communal violence broke out in Kandhamal and other parts of the state.