No proposal to allow lateral entry of professionals into IAS

HOW GOVT BROUGHT DOWN A ‘CORRUPT’ BABU

Meanwhile on Wednesday, complainant JK Biswas and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia appeared before the media and claimed that the AAP Government was behind the trap.

Sisodia claimed that Singh was caught red handed by the CBI after Kejriwal was informed about it by the complainant. Following which the CM asked the complainant to contact the CBI and get the officer trapped. Sisodia sounded a warning to all Government servants, saying the Government will not tolerate corruption. “We are very serious about this issue,” he added.

He said the Government had been keeping an eye for long on the senior bureaucrat arrested on Tuesday in a graft case, but there was no evidence against him. “We had heard about Singh. But no solid information was coming our way. We were keeping an eye on him,” said Sisodia, adding that he had conducted a surprise visit recently to his office.

He had hired one guard but showed two guards on paper. “We wanted to make sure that this time the officer gets caught, not a junior who was taking bribe on his behalf,” Sisodia said.

Action was finally taken after Biswas whose firm provides security guards to the Transport Department, approached Kejriwal. The Delhi Government in turn approached the CBI and the officer was arrested after the agency laid a trap. “We got a video recording done showing how the account officer was taking money. The video clip shows that he insists on `2 lakh as bribe,” said Biswas, who had recently joined the AAP.

He alleged that the bureaucrat would ask for a bribe every time bills were cleared. “Whenever I went to get bills cleared, he would ask for over Rs1 lakh bribe and then only pass bills.”

Kejriwal has directed chief secretary KK Sharma to surrender Singh to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It is noted that the MHA had took a strong call to compulsory retire him and the proposal was approved by DoPT in 2012 but it was stalled by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on some technical grounds.

Strangely, the MHA promoted him within the cadre to the pay scale of secretary to the Government of India in July 2015. Also, Singh was suspended for his misbehaviour during his probation period.

It is also a fact that Singh’s name was proposed by the AAP Government in the panel of four bureaucrats that was sent to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to work as acting Chief Secretary in the absence of Chief Secretary KK Sharma in May 2005. Sisodia had opposed his name.

According to sources, despite receiving several complaints against Singh in the past, the MHA had promoted him as Principal Secretary last year.

Interestingly, no service record is available in his executive record sheet between March 2009 and July 2009 during his posting in Mizoram.

The MHA in its report that was submitted to the CAT had held Singh guilty of misconduct and found that he, then a project director of UBS, had purchase Tata Sumo in December 1997 without approval of the Principal Secretary Urban Development.

Singh unauthorisedly brought the vehicle with him when he was transferred out of the Urban Development Department and posted as Special Commissioner (Transport) and Director Delhi Energy Development Agency (DEDA) in 1998.

He kept the vehicle for his personal use till November 1998.

According to the MHA, he also fabricated a back dated letter to show that the vehicle was sent to the Election Commission.

“Singh had committed gross misconduct and failed to maintain absolute integrity and thereby violated the provisions of Rule 3, (1) of the All India Services (conduct) Rules 1968,” the MHA said.

Sources said the MHA also held Singh responsible for his  misconduct while functioning as Director DEDA, purchased a Maruti DL3CJ 8262 unauthorisedly without obtaining the prior approval of the competent authority. Singh used the car for his personal use.

Sources said Singh was also held responsible for his misconduct of service rule while functioning as Director DEDA, created a fake file no PA/MD/1998-99/IITF to favour M/s Mandali R -72 Khirki Extension Malviya Nagar to award the work of preparing a concept of designing and supervision of DEDA stall in IITF in 1998.

TRIBUNE, DEC 9, 2015