Navi Mumbai civic body contemplating internal transfers of employees following arrest of official for taking bribe

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation might start internally transferring its employees working at the same place for more than five years; this, following the arrest for accepting bribe of its staff who was working at the same place for the last 10 years

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation might soon start internally transferring its employees working at the same place for more than five years.

Following the arrest of a staff for taking bribe, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation might start internal transfers of employees working in the same place for more than five years. (BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT FILE PHOTO)

Following the recent trap by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of a clerk in Local Body Tax (LBT) department, it was found that the arrested accused, Vinayak Patil (33), was working at the same place for the last 10 years.

“Even though a contractual employee, he was working in the same place for around 10 years, which is more than enough to find the right contacts in the area to make the job more lucrative. With such practices, the revenue of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is affected and is a very serious offence. This was an eye opener and, hence, soon the employees including contractual employees as well who have been working in the same department for many years would be transferred,” an officer from NMMC said.

Further investigations into the arrest of Patil have revealed that on various occasions, the accused has allegedly handed over confidential files to the complainant.

“We have also found that the accused has shown fake bank receipts to the complainant to show that his penalty amount of ₹14 lakh was being settled and for the same, the complainant will have to pay ₹3 lakh bribe. After these findings, we are likely to add forgery sections to the case,” Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jyoti Deshmukh from Navi Mumbai ACB, said.

ACB also suspects the involvement of other officers of the LBT department wherein the accused was employed as a contractual employee. “We are investigating the role of other officers as well,” Deshmukh said.

Patil, who was attached with LBT department of Koparkhairane ward, was arrested on November 8 for accepting a bribe of ₹1 lakh to make a record of no pending penalty of the complainant’s company.