A day after HT reported Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) chief executive officer (CEO) SB Deepak Kumar’s refusal to comply with chairman Maninder Singh’s order on disposal of files, UT administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki has divested Kumar of the charge.
For around a year now, Kumar has been at the centre of a row with senior officials of the board, including the chairman, for alleged misuse of board’s money. In its governing body meeting last month, the board censured Kumar for not returning a Rs 50,000 smartphone he purchased using the board’s money.
He was also reprimanded for not disposing of tatkal files within time.
The administrator gets a copy of the minutes of the meetings of the board.
CITCO managing director Kavita Mohan Singh is the new CHB CEO. Kumar continues as special secretary in the departments of home, personnel, information technology and secretary House allotment committee (upper).
Used Rs 40 lakh for house renovation; starts returning some stuff
Kumar, whose 50% monthly salary as the board CEO is to be deducted for not returning the smartphone bought in December 2015, has started returning things he bought from the CHB money for furnishing his residence in Sector 16.
{{/usCountry}}Kumar, whose 50% monthly salary as the board CEO is to be deducted for not returning the smartphone bought in December 2015, has started returning things he bought from the CHB money for furnishing his residence in Sector 16.
{{/usCountry}}Also read: CEO gets power bill from housing board for unapproved ‘camp office’
On Thursday, he returned a Sony LED that cost around Rs 1.45 lakh and mattresses worth Rs 25,000. Kumar has also asked CHB’s electrical department to remove three ACs that cost around Rs 1.5 lakh.
On December 15, 2015, HT had highlighted that Kumar had spent Rs 40 lakh on sprucing up his official residence in Sector 16. At the time, he held the additional charge of the board CEO. The list included furniture that cost Rs 1.53 lakh and kitchen gadgets that cost Rs 1 lakh. Board chairman Maninder Singh refused to comment.
“The CEO wasted lakhs when he was in-charge. Now, returning the things he bought is meaningless. We have another board meeting on July 20 where the issue will be discussed. We will ask for recovery of the amount he splurged,” a senior officer told HT on condition of anonymity.
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