WITH THE High Court handing an ultimatum to the State Government, the axe could well fall on a host of officials serving deputation terms in the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC).
Responding to a contempt petition the HC recently directed the government to take a decision regarding deputation employees by December 15. It was further directed to submit an affidavit listing action taken in this regard on January 3, the next hearing date.
Galvanised into action by the HC diktat, the government is learnt to have sought details about employees and officials serving deputation terms in the IMC in a missive on Wednesday.
The Corporation has compiled a list of 63 deputation staffers, including parent department and length of tenure, and the data will be forwarded to the Urban Administration Development Department at a meeting to be held in Bhopal on Friday.
The letter has engendered hopes among Corporation employees that the ‘outsiders’ who have been ruling the roost in the civic body may finally be on their way out.
More than 60 employees, mostly senior officers and engineers, are currently on loan to the IMC from various departments. Many of them have outlived the three-year tenure mandated by the government for deputation staffers but continue to linger on, thanks to political patronage.
{{/usCountry}}More than 60 employees, mostly senior officers and engineers, are currently on loan to the IMC from various departments. Many of them have outlived the three-year tenure mandated by the government for deputation staffers but continue to linger on, thanks to political patronage.
{{/usCountry}}A sizeable number are also being probed by the Lokayukta and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for charges ranging from graft to misappropriation of funds.
The most notable examples are IMC Secretary J C Galar who has served for over six years and Deputy Commissioner M P S Arora. The latter was shunted out to Rewa after coming under a cloud for fiscal irregularities, but managed to claw his way back into the IMC after hectic lobbying by his BJP benefactors.
Among the others are G D Sutar, accused of flouting an HC directive on the controversial structure at 30, Jail Road; City Engineer (Building Permission) Harbhajan Singh; Building Officer O P Goyal (both currently being probed by the Economic Offences Wing for allegedly receiving apartments in return for overlooking building permission violations at a structure located at MG Road.