Central Administrative Tribunal asks Maharashtra government to reinstate auditor

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has issued an order reinstating an auditor who was allegedly relieved from his post arbitrarily last year, by Maharashtra’s

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has issued an order reinstating an auditor who was allegedly relieved from his post arbitrarily last year, by Maharashtra’s additional chief secretary (finance) Manoj Saunik. The order was passed on September 22 and Saunik has since got a stay on CAT’s order.

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On August 30, 2019, senior departmental accounts auditor GD Thakare from the public works department (PWD) was asked to discontinue auditing, by Saunik and the superintendent engineer. Thakare challenged this instruction and approached CAT. This year, on September 22, CAT issued an order saying the state must permit Thakare to audit and relieving him of his duty was in contravention of the Public Works Accounts Code.

In response, Saunik filed a review petition and has since got a stay on the order reinstating Thakare. “I have done no wrong. I immediately obtained a stay order against this [CAT’s] order. I have asked for the review of this order,” Saunik told HT.

However, activist and advocate Pravin Wategaonkar has written to Maharashtra chief secretary Sanjay Kumar, seeking action against Saunik. Wategaonkar said, “PWD headed by Saunik had no right to relieve Thakare and that he had acted unlawfully was confirmed by the ruling given by CAT.”