DEO transferred for acting against illegal sale of grand bungalows, reappointed to office in 24 hrs

The previous DGDE order was addressed to the principal director of defence estates, Southern Command, on January 22 and has been seen by Hindustan Times

Defence estates officer (DEO) Pune Circle, Amitkumar Mane, who during the past three weeks sealed four bungalow properties worth ₹300 crore, and initiated takeover proceedings of Camp’s oldest and richest club for non-payment of dues worth ₹17 crore and lease expiry, was transferred by the director-general of defence estates (DGDE), that too on January 22, a public holiday announced to mark the consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. However, within 24 hours, Mane was reinstated as additional DEO on Tuesday late evening in a fresh order which cited medical grounds of his family member as the reason behind being reinstated to his last posting.

Amitkumar Mane was reinstated as additional DEO on Tuesday late evening. (HT PPHOTO)

The previous DGDE order was addressed to the principal director of defence estates, Southern Command, on January 22 and has been seen by Hindustan Times. Additional director-general (admin) defence estates, Vibha Sharma, in her order stated, “Keeping in view the exigencies as well as public interest and with the approval of the competent authority, the transfer of SAG-level IDES officer is ordered with immediate effect.”

According to the order, Rajendra Chandrakant Jagtap, an IDES (Indian Defence Estate Services) officer of the 2001 batch and current joint director of defence estates, Southern Command, was posted as the new DEO for Pune, replacing Mane. Mane, an IDES officer of the 2014 batch, has now been posted as assistant director-general in the DGDE, Delhi Cantonment.

Mane had earlier served as the chief executive officer of Kamptee, Allahabad and Dehu Road cantonments. It was barely six months ago that Mane was appointed as the DEO in which capacity he acted against unauthorised transactions pertaining to old grant bungalows in Camp in coordination with his senior supervisory officer, Saurav Ray, who is the director of defence estates, Southern Command.

The fresh order released late Tuesday evening stated that considering Mane’s representation, it has been decided that the officer may continue as Additional DEO in Pune till further orders, and will work under new DEO Jagtap. HT has seen both the orders.

Despite repeated efforts, Mane could not be reached at his office; the text messages and calls did not evoke any response. Ray could not be reached for comments.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, citizen-activist Shailendra Chavan had said, “The transfer of the officer is shocking. The order came on January 22, a public holiday, shows the urgency with which behind the scenes, things are being moved to stall the probe into the defence bungalow land scam.”

It was Ray who began probing the old grant defence fraudulent land sale and wrote to the inspector-general of registration (IGR) and controller of stamps to immediately halt the sale of all defence bungalows, citing that they were properties of the central government which could not be sold.