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After uproar, Chandigarh MC withdraws move to reinstate two graft-tainted employees
MC commissioner Anindita Mitra, who had issued the orders on November 14, issued fresh orders on Friday stating: “The orders of revocation of suspended officers are withdrawn with immediate effect due to administrative reasons.”
Amid mayor Anup Gupta and city councillors’ opposition against the reinstatement of two officials of the medical officer of health (MOH) wing, who were caught red-handed by CBI while accepting bribe in August, the Chandigarh municipal corporation on Friday revoked the reinstatement orders.
MC commissioner Anindita Mitra, who had issued the orders on November 14, issued fresh orders on Friday stating: “The orders of revocation of suspended officers are withdrawn with immediate effect due to administrative reasons.”
Earlier while reinstating the officers, Mitra had said the civic body was facing acute shortage of staff and a departmental inquiry had been instituted. The final decision will be taken upon submission of the inquiry report, she had said.
But the decision evoked strong opposition from the mayor and councillors from all parties.
Mayor Gupta said, “Although it was an administrative decision, I was totally against it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the entire BJP stand for zero tolerance towards corruption. A fair inquiry should be done against the two and they should not be reinstated till the inquiry is going on.”
BJP councillor Maheshinder Singh Sidhu, who had raised the issue in the August House meeting, had also opposed the reinstatement. He had said on social media, “Two senior employees were caught red-handed and their suspension revoked and reinstated in service...Earlier, no parallel departmental enquiry ever ordered into this matter despite the fact that it involved corruption by these employees in discharging official duties.”
On Friday, he said, “It’s good that better sense has prevailed upon the officials. The reinstatement orders had created a bad precedent and would have encouraged wrongdoers to do illegal acts with impunity and should not have been issued in the first place.”
On August 8, CBI had arrested Sandeep Dhankar, health supervisor in MC’s sanitary department, and chief sanitary inspector Chander Mohan, and recovered ₹1 lakh bribe money from them. The duo had allegedly accepted the bribe for reinstating a sacked employee.
MC had then suspended the two officers, but the incident had evoked uproar against corruption during the General House meeting on August 29. Cutting across party lines, the councillors had demanded an inquiry against the senior officials of the MOH wing. Two months later, CBI had filed the challan against Dhankar and Mohan on October 6. The CBI had seized gold ornaments worth ₹1.6 crore from the lockers of one of the officials.
