Complaint
under Section 37 (4)(c) of Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014
To Date-
26.7.21
His
Excellency Prof. Ganeshi Lal
Hon’ble
Governor, Odisha
Raj
Bhawan, Bhubaneswar
Sub-
Seeking action against Chairman Odisha
Lokayukta Justice Ajit Singh under Section 37 (4)(c) of Odisha Lokayukta
Act, 2014
Ref: Order of
Odisha Lokayukta No. LY- 1027/2020 dated
9.7.21 issued by a Lokayukta Bench
comprising Justice Ajit Singh Chairperson and
Sri Debabrata Swain, Member.
Esteemed Sir,
I, Sri Sarbeswar
Behura , RTI Activist and
anti-corruption crusader , faced bomb attack due to my fight against corruption
of powerful people would like to draw
attention of your august office the
following complaint and take action deemed proper by way of exercising your power under Section 37( (4) (c ) of the
said Act-
1.
In order to apprise your august
office on the rationale of the above complaint I beg
to narrate a summary of the facts and circumstances that made us to file
it before your esteemed authority and I fervently hope that your august office
shall pass an appropriate order in the matter to meet the ends of justice and
probity.
2.
On 28th
night of August, 20, Electronics media
aired breaking news that
the Irrigation Embankment
Road from NH-5 ( Gokarneswar ) to Budhalingam Majhipada Road ( length-20
kms) along embankment of Kelua river under Jajpur district got destroyed
at Niraghat by explosion of
dynamites and impression
was given that
due to heavy flow
of flood water , the
embankment got cracked
and damaged and damaged
4000 hect. of paddy.
After few hours , the statement
of the then District Collector, Jajpur
and then Chief Secretary
came out
that this damage was
man-made and destroyed by miscreants. On 29.8.21, the Deputy Executive
Engineer, Jaraka Irrigation Division, Jaraka filed FIR in Dharmashala Police
station for inquiry into the incident.
3.
Alleging of destruction of
embankment, a conspiracy to cover up huge irregularities and corruption in
construction of the road, I filed
complaint dt. 7.9.20 before Lokayukta, Odisha seeking inquiry into destruction
of embankment and punish the people responsible for it.
4.
My allegation was following
information obtained under RTI Act. That, this project
was sanctioned in 2016 by the
office of the Executive Engineer, R&B, Panikoili Division with Agreement No. 21 P with an
estimated amount of Rs. 21.99
crores. Sri Balakrustan Mohanty, Contractor was entrusted to execute the
work and complete it by 30.4.2018. But,
the local MLA Sri Pranab
Balabantaray and Sri Naren Jena, Junior Engineer close relation of
MLA used local
hooligans to create
trouble for the
Contractors for which
he could not
start the work.
The work got delayed for
two years and the project
cost revised to Rs.
24.47 crore. Huge corruption and misappropriation of fund resulted in low
quality of work and weak embankment .
5.
In order to suppress
low quality of
work, then then Tahasildar,
Dharmashala and then Executive Engineer,
R&B, Panikoili Division put a check
post at entry side of embankment in 2020 in order to check movement of big vehicles apprehending that it may damage embankment taking plea that this check post was put
at the instruction of Collector, Jajpur which was
false , confirmed as per RTI Reply given
by the office of Collector,
Jajpur which stated that no such had been issued to Tahasildar, Dharmashala.
6.
Taking cognizance
of the complaint ( registered –LY- 1027/20) , Lokayukta Bench comprising Chairman Justice Ajit Singh and Sri Debabrata Swain, Member issued notice on to
Chief Engineer, works, Sri Pranab Balabantaray, MLA, Executive Engineer,
R&B, Panikoili to reply on above-mentioned allegation.
7.
After considering their respective
submissions, on 8.1.21, the Lokayukta ordered
to state Vigilance for inquiry into complaints filed by Sarbeswar
Behura.
8.
On 7.7.21, the Director
of State Vigilance submitted preliminary
report before Lokayukta, Odisha.
9.
Considering the
report, Lokayukta Stated
that the allegation of corruption made in the
complaint regarding use of substandard material
in the construction work
of embankment have been
found to be false and
closed the case on 9.7.21.
10.
During hearing
of the case, when I sought
the inquiry report
of State Vigilance, the Lokayukta bench denied
to share the copy
of the inquiry report
on the ground that there
is no such provision
for sharing of the
report to complainant
in Odisha Lokayukta Act, 2014.
11.
It
deserves to mention here that
during inquiry conducted by Vigilance, I had presented
some documents obtained under RTI from the
office of Executive Engineer,
R&B, Panikioli dt. 28.9.20 – (A) the office
of Executive Engineer, R&B, Panikoili had
deducted Rs. 1.52 crore from the
final bill of
Contractor towards royalty against
use of sand, stone
and Morum . In fact, this royalty
should be deposited in the
office of Tahasildar,
Dharmashala at the time
of lift of said materials.
As not
a single material has been lifted and used
in the embankment, the
contractor had not
deposited the said royalty
amount in the office of Tahasildar, Dharmashala and
misappropriated the said money.
(B) As the construction work was going
on the
revised estimated budget
of Rs. 24.47 crore, the
office of Executive Engineer , R
&B, sanctioned F 2
work worth Rs. 63.12 lakhs (
dividing work into 12 sanctioning Rs. 3 to 4 lakh for each work) to
Lalita Mohanty of Puri district , a
lady which is no way related to this work without any tender. This total amount
was misappropriated as there was no such provision for F-2 work when the work
was going on. (C) this
work was primarily
was handed over to Batakrustan
Mohanty , contractor who could
not undertake the work
and his son
Subash Mohanty obtaining
power of
attorney started the
work and could not
progress. He engaged another contractor Sangram keshari Jena of
Kendrapara to finish
the work. But
the Vigilance during
inquiry did not
take into consideration the above documents submitted by me.
12.
When I raised
these issues that
has not been taken into consideration by Vigilance, Odisha ,
Lokayukta did not listen
anything and arbitrarily
closed the case.
In view of the facts and circumstances narrated
above, we are of the view that
Justice Sri Ajit Singh,
Chairperson, Lokayukta has patently failed to discharge his statutory
obligations as required of him. We therefore pray before your Excellency Sir to
order an action deemed proper against Justice Sri Ajit Singh Chairman
Lokayukta, Odisha on the ground of mental infirmity in exercise of the powers
vested in Governor Odish under Section 37(4)(c) and simultaneously to pass
another Order deemed appropriate, in the capacity of Executive Head of the
State under Article 154(1) of Constitution, for institution of an impartial and comprehensive enquiry covering
all the parties mentioned in our Complaint
and exploring all angles thereto, so as to unearth the factors and
actors responsible for destruction of embankment
and corruption involved in it .
Yours sincerely
Sarbeswar Behura
At-Saroi, Post-Haridaspur
Dist-Jajpur
M- 9437459949
