Chandigarh, March 18 – Taking cognizance of a complaint received at the CM Window, pertaining to embezzlement of government funds, an action has been taken by the competent authority of Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board against 32 employees of the Board. According to the action initiated by the Board, a fund recovery will be made and three to five annual increments will be withheld of some employees involved in the embezzlement of government funds. The Board would also deduct five percent pension of the retired employees and strict warning has been given to some employees who were involved in the embezzlement.
The CM window has been started by Haryana Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Lal for timely redressal of the public grievances.
This information was given today at a meeting of CM-Window organized under the chairmanship of Dr. Rakesh Gupta, Project Director of Chief Minister's Good Governance Associate Program. At the meeting, officers of Welfare of Schedule Castes and Backward Classes Department, Department of School Education (Secondary), Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Department of Higher Education, Department of Irrigation and Water Resources, Haryana Urban Development Authority, Department of Excise and Taxation, Urban Local Bodies, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Development and Panchayat Departments were present.
It was informed at the meeting that the complaint received at the CM-Window stated that an embezzlement of Rs 1. 42 crore of EPF, ESI and service tax of the employees was done by the officers of the Board in conspiracy with Harish Kumar, son of Balwan Singh partner M/s Friends Security Service. Investigations were conducted by the Vigilance Department and the officers of the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board had filed chargesheet against 39 employees for indulging in fraud in the matter pertaining to hiring manpower through outsourcing by M/s Friends Security Service. Meanwhile, the competent officer of the Board, i.e. the Chief Administrator, gave his final judgment against 32 employees of the Board as per the charge sheet and an investigation was done under various service rules under which they were punished according to the role of each employee.
It was informed at the meeting that under the action taken by the Chief Administrator of Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, the case of retired Superintendent Mr. Jaipal was filed after warning, while the three annual increments of SMC Mr. Sandeep Garg and Mr. Manoj Dahiya will be withheld, Accountant Vikas Gupta's five annual increments will be withheld, three annual increments of the then Accountant Mr. Vikas Dhillon will be withheld. At the same time, recovery of Rs 12,001 will be made from SMC Mr. Jagjit Singh, MS Mr. Ramesh Lal’s five annual increments were withheld, SMC Mr. Devi Ram’s three annual increments will be withheld and Rs 12,001 will be recovered, SMC Anil Kumar’s three annual increments will be withheld, The then MS, who is now retired, Mr. Amarjit Singh's will face a deduction of 5 percent from pension for five years, Accountant Mr. Manjit Singh’s three annual increments will be withheld, Accountant Mr. Vinod Kumar’s three annual increments will be withheld, the then MS Mr. Lakhvinder Singh’s four annual increments will be withheld ,Accountant Mr. Virendra Singh three annual increments will be withheld and recovery of Rs 12,001 will be made and MS, Mr. Kashmiri Lal’s (presently retired) will face a deduction of five percent for five years from the pension.
Similarly, SMC Mr. Rajeev Solanki’s annual increments for three years will be withheld, the then Accountant Mr. Rajveer Singh annual increments for three years will be withheld, Retired DMEO Mr. Radhakrishna's will face a deduction of five percent from pension for five years, SMC Mr. Virendra Singh's three annual increments will be withheld, retired DMEO Mr. Manohar Lal Bharti will face a deduction of five percent for five years from pension, retired SMC Mr. Dalip Sihag will face a deduction of five percent for five years from pension.
It was informed in the meeting that while a case under Rule 7 has been registered against SMC Mr. Jitendra Singh, Accountant Mr. Ishwar Singh and the then SMC Mr. Satpal Sandhu. It was informed at the meeting that a case under Rule 8 has been registered against SMC Mr. Vikas Setia, Accountant Mr. Deepak Kumar, DMEO Mr. Shailesh Verma, retired ZMEO Mr. Ramesh Godara, ZMEO Mr. Ram Kumar, DMEO Mr. Hawa Singh Khobra and DMEO Mr. Dharampal Bambhu have been filed with caution.
It is noteworthy that after taking cognizance of this complaint received from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, in the last CM-Window meeting, the officers of the department were directed to act on the complaint and report it, on which the action has been taken. The case against the firm is pending in court.
In the meeting, Dr. Rakesh Gupta, Project Director of Chief Minister's Good Governance Cooperative Program, directed the officers of departments present to resolve the pending complaints till the next meeting on a priority basis. In the meeting, he informed the officers that the next meeting of CM-Window will be held on March 27, 2020.