Odisha Lokayukta and Govt. of Odisha working
together to protect high-ranking corrupt officials
Protection to Bishnupada Sethy involved in
corruption and misappropriation of funds of Odisha State Cooperative Bank,
given by the Lokayukta, Odisha is a
Glaring Example.
Appeal to Hon’ble Governor, Odisha under
section 37 of Odisha Lokayukta
Act for
taking action against
Justice Ajit Singh, Chairman,
Lokayukta, Odisha and order for
instituting high-level
inquiry committee to unearth
the truth.
While deciding a complaint case LY-110/2019, a three member bench of
Lokayukta headed by its Chairman Sri Ajit Singh has granted clean chit to Mr. Bishnupada Sethi, IAS, Secretary,
Revenue and Disaster Management, Govt. of Odisha and has also, going out of the
way, showered profuse appreciation on the accused Mr. Sethy for his return of
Rs. 3, 27,000.00 to Got. which was
taken by him towards
reimbursement medical bill for
treatment of his wife and father. Besides, Lokayuykta has also taken the
view that huge amount money in the form of incentives, orderly allowances,
electricity bill, book allowances etc taken by Bishnupada Sethy was legally
justified too, as he had worked as a full-time staff of Odisha State Cooperative
Bank. But, such conclusion of the Lokayukta, made in defence of a high-ranking
Govt. official Mr. Bishnupad Sethy is not only factually incorrect, but also
legally questionable.
Background
of complaint that was filed in Lokayukta, Odisha
On 1.7.2019, Srikant Pakal ( M- 6370216463) filed a complaint before the
then newly-constituted Lokayukta,
Odisha alleging Illegal drawal of lakhs
of rupees from Odisha State
Cooperative Bank, Bhubaneswar
by Sri
BishnuPada Sethi, IAS during his
tenure as Management-In-Charge ,
OSCB , who happens to be presently working
as Secretary Revenue and Disaster Management , Govt. of
Odisha. Relying on RTI information
and statutory inspection Report of NABARD submitted to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies , Odisha , Sri Pakal had filed this
complaint seeking an inquiry and legal action under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Content
of the Complainant’s allegation
A Statutory Report on Inspection of Orissa State Cooperative Bank
conducted by NABARD u/s 35 (6) of Banking Regulation Act, 1949 basing on the
financial position as on 31.3.2018 along with a note for departmental action was submitted to the
Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Govt. of Odisha, Bhubaneswar. As per the said
Report, Sri Bishnupada Sethi IAS, the
erstwhile Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Cooperation Department held the additional charge of OSCB as its Management-in-Charge ( MIC) with
effect from 5th February, 2013 and continued upto 2016. There
was as such no legal provision nor any order approved by the RCS, Odisha under
Orissa Cooperative Societies Act, by which a Government Servant holding a
substantive post in the State Government but simultaneously functioning as
Management-In-Charge or Administrator of any Cooperative Society will be
eligible for various financial benefits.
However, it was observed that the concerned Bank had reimbursed /
paid book allowances Rs. 10,000 per annum, Electricity/ Energy Bill on actual basis , orderly allowances at Rs. 3000 per
month, and above all Incentive (
vide staff Rule No. 54-A) payable to the
employees who are otherwise not eligible for Bonus
not exceeding 45 days salary. Thus, Incentives paid to Sri Bishnupad
Sethy stood at Rs. 1,70,691 for 2013-14, Rs. 1,91,519 for 2014-15 and Rs. 65,
993 for 2015-16. But, the contention of the Complainant was that the MIC not being
a staff member of the
Bank as per the Staff Services
Rules should not have been paid
the amount and the amounts in question
are, therefore considered irregular and instances of corruption.. During his tenure as MIC, Sri Sethi had
got reimbursed medical bills in three phases
amounting to Rs. 9,46,071 towards
hospitalization of his wife and father. There were recommendations from
the Government for reimbursement in two phases in view of the budgetary constraints of the Department
concerned and, as a matter of fact, in
one case there was no recommendation from the Government at all. Therefore,
these were all illegal payments
made in favour of Sri Sethi.
Sri Pakal had
also alleged that as
per the provisions of Section 3(2) of Odisha Cooperative Societies Act, the
State Government may by general or special order confer on any person appointed
to assist the Registrar in respect of all or any of the powers of Registrar
under OCS Act to be exercised within such local limit as may be assigned by the
Registrar. Under the Section 3(4) of the OCS Act, the persons appointed to
assist the Registrar shall exercise the power conferred on him subject to
general superintendence and control of the Registrar. As such there were no
legal provision nor any order approved
by the Registrar, Cooperative Society by which Sri Bishnupada Sethi or any
other Government Official holding substantive posts under the State Government
would be made eligible for various financial benefits from the OSCB in respect of which they acted as Management-in-Charge or
Administrator.
Sri
Pakal had also further mentioned in
his complaint that “having heard about
these payments made
to Sri Bishnupada Sethi, one of
my RTI Activist-friends had filed an RTI
Application dated 26.11.18 to the PIO, office of Odisha State Cooperative Bank seeking
information about ( a) details of
various incentives like orderly allowances, electricity bill and any other payment received
by him ( month-wise) , (b)
provide information about the
details of decision taken by OSCB, (c) details of medical reimbursement bill
submitted by Sri Bishnu Pada
Sethy and the amounts released against the same along with copy of the decisions taken for payment against medical
reimbursement etc. The PIO denied to supply the information under section
8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. However, this case is pending
in the office of Odisha
Information Commission for disposal.”
Hearing,
inquiry and disposal of Complaint LY-110/2019 by Lokayukta, Odisha
After
perusing the Complaint, Lokayukta, Odisha issued notice to Sri Bishnupada
Sethy to file Reply. On 14.8.2019, Sri Sethy filed his
submission justifying all the amounts
taken by him as legal and appropriate. His series of submissions were also followed by a series of
counter-submissions filed by the complainant Sikant Pakal before Lokayukta,
Odisha. The Rejoinders containing the
Conter-Submissions of Srikant Pakal were as follows.
1. While Shri Bishnupada Sethi , IAS was
holding the post of
Commissioner-cum-Secretary of
Cooperation Department , he managed to ensure the issue of letter No. 908 dt. 5.2.2013 to addressed to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) , Odisha by way of putting undue
influence on one of his
subordinate officers i.e., Deputy Secretary of the
Dept. . In the said letter, the
Deputy Secretary of Cooperation Department who happened
to be a subordinate officer under Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Cooperation Dept. had requested RCS, Odisha to appoint
Commissioner-cum-Secretary of
Cooperation Dept. as the administrator of OSCB IN SERIAL NO. 67 of the list.
As per section 32(1) of the OCS Act, 1962, an administrator can only be
appointed by the
RCS, Odisha in case of suspension
of the elected committee of
management of OSCB . Hence
the said Govt. letter issued
to RCS, Odisha was contrary
to the provision of OCS Act.
The RCS, Odisha though
an officer subordinate to the Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Cooperation Dept, did however feel that he was
unable to appoint Mr. Bishnupada Sethi
as the administrator of OSCB due to
legal constraints. However to circumscribe the legal constraints the said Officer of the Govt. was induced
to act dishonestly and without propriety in such a way as to
give undue advantage
to Sri Sethi to hold the
post of Management-in-Charge vide
by the issue of an order on the
same day, that is, dt. 5.2.2013. He
also unlawfully assigned local limits to Sri . Sethy, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Cooperation Dept. in respect of
Odisha State Cooperative Bank for
exercising power of
Registrar u/s 28 of OCS Act. It is thus clear that the said appointment was never made following provisions of
Section 3 of OCS Act, 1962.
“ Under
section 3 (1) of the OCS Act , the State Got. is empowered to appoint
a person as Registrar of
Cooperative Societies for the state
and may appoint other officers to assist him. Under
Section 3(2) of OCS Act , 1962 , the State Government may by general
and special order confer on
any person appointed to assist the Registrar of Cooperative Societies in all or any other power
of Registrar under the Act to be exercised within such local limit as may be assigned by the Registrar. Under
section 3(4) of the OCS Act , every person appointed to assist
Registrar shall exercise the powers
conferred on him subject to
general superintendence and control of
the Registrar.”
2.
On
the face of the letter dt. 5.2.2013 of the
State Government issued
to RCS, Odisha suggesting appointment
of an administrator and the order of RCS, Odisha dt. 5.2.2013 appointing the Commissioner-cum-Secretary,
Cooperation Dept. as MIC of OSCB
are contrary to the
provisions of Section-3 of OCS
Act. Similarly, when Sri
Bishnupada Sethi was transferred to the
Secretary –cum-Commissioner of Dept. of Fisheries and ARD ON 18.8.2014 , he again
managed to arrange the issue of a letter
to RCS, Odisha to appoint
him again as MIC of OSCB.
The said letter was issued by Cooperation Department vide letter no.
7475 dt. 24.9.2014 and the RCS, Odisha appointed
Sri Sethy , Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Dept. of Fisheries and ARD
as MIC of OSCB by issuing a letter dt. 30.9.14 and the issue
of all these letters violated the statutory provision, that is, Section
3(2) of OCS Act.
3. As to the provision mandating
the MIC ( Management –in-Charge ) to work
under general superintendence and control
of Registrar of Cooperative Societies Odisha, Sri Sethi
submitted before Lokayukta
that functioning of MIC of
OSCB has been exempted under
Section 123 of OCS Act. This claim of Sri Sethy is a false one as stated by Srikant Pakal in his counter-submission, in
which the definition of Section 123 of OCS
Act was given as follows- .
“
Power to exempt Class
of societies- The State
Government may by general or special order exempt
any society or any class of societies other than
cooperative credit Societies from
any of the provisions of the Act or
may direct that such provisions shall apply to such society or class of societies with
modifications as may e
specified in the order”.
The word Cooperative Societies has been defined in section -2 (c-2) of OCS
Act, 1962 which includes Odisha State
Cooperative Bank , District Central Cooperative bank , PAC, SCS, LAMPCS
& FSCS . “
4. As to the allegation of undue
payments of huge incentives to him from the OSCB, Sri
Bishnupada Sethi , IAS
justified it in view of Section 56(g)
of OCS Act that provided for
payment of honorarium to members
of committee of management of OSCB
for rendering specific services not
exceeding 10 % of the net profit for the
year, such payment being thus
permissible to him as Management-in-Charge of OSCB, he had availed honourarium in shape of incentives under
provisions of section 56(g) of OCS Act.
The counter –submission of
the complainant was that
under provision of Sections 29(2)(h)
and 56(2)(g) of OCS Act , the General body is empowered to approve distribution of net profit,
which also includes payment of
honorarium to committee members. Distribution of net profit must be
made by General Body within the budgetary allocation. But
Sri sethi during his tenure as
Management-in-Charge had unlawfully and illegally
availed incentives
applicable for the paid employees of the Bank
by abusing his official
power. His claim of availing incentives has not
been approved by the General body
of OSCB while distributing / appropriating profit
under Section 29(2)(h) of the OCS Act. Misusing his power and position, Sri Sethi has availed
the benefits from the Bank. Similarly, Sri Sethi has illegally availed the book grant, orderly
allowances , electricity bill
etc. and taken lakhs of
rupees against the same.
5.
In
respect of availing electricity bill, Sri Pakal had
submitted before the Lokayukta
that Sri Sethi as Commissioner –cum-Secretary of
Cooperation Dept and Dept. of Fisheries and ARD
was availing Govt. quarters and no allotment was made
by OSCB for providing
residential accommodation to the MIC. The electricity / energy bill of the Govt. quarter
is borne by the occupants as per Govt. Rules. No such Rules or order either by
Govt. or by the OSCB had never been framed
for payments of electricity / energy bill enjoyed by Bishnupada Sethi in his Govt. Quarter for which
the same could be reimbursed by OSCB.
In the absence of any
Government Rules or any provision under OCS Act
and Rules, the reimbursement of
electricity and water tax of
the Government quarter occupied by Sri Sethi was an
illegal act which constitutes
misconduct under All India Service
Conduct Rules and liable to be punished.
6.
As
to the allegation on the availing orderly allowances @Rs. 3000.00 per month
by Sri Bishnupada Sethi ,
IAS as MIC of OSCB,
Sri Pakal had alleged that there was neither any decision of OSCB nor any
approval of RCS, Odisha to make
any payment to MIC towards orderly
allowances. As Sri Sethi
was holding a substantive civil post
as Commissioner-cum-secretary
of Cooperation Dept. , he was
not eligible as such to avail such
payments. As regards
the resolution of the executive
committee of OSCB dated
4.8.2010 referred by Bishnupada
Sethi in justification of his eligibility
to avail such benefits , Sri Pakal
had submitted that the said resolution was made to make payments at the enhanced rate of Rs.
3000.00 per month towards the
orderly allowances to the
officers of the Bank. The said resolution of the EC
was never approved by the RCS, Odisha which is mandatory under Sections 28(1)(a)(viii) and 33-A of OCS Act . The Word
“Officer” has been defined under
Section -2(g) of OCS Act and is as such confined to the paid
employees of the Bank.
Sri Sethy as MIC was
not a paid employee of the Bank.
7.
As regards
reimbursement of medical
Bill, Sri Srikant Pakal
had alleged that Sri Sethi was holding
the post of Commissioner-cum-secretary of Cooperation Department as well as MIC of OSCB till 18.8.2014. Abusing his official position as
Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Cooperation Department he managed the issue of a letter to Managing Director,
OSCB vide letter no.
2903 dated 3.4.2014 ( Just a few days after
joining as MIC ) for
reimbursement of medical claim of
Rs. 1.5 lakh for treatment
of his father and as MIC he illegally availed
the said amount from OSCB
and made illegal financial gains.
Similarly, while he was working as Commissioner-cum-Secretary of
F&ARD department, his office had issued the letter no. 8856 dt.
22.7.2015 through one of his
subordinate officers to MD,
OSCB for
reimbursement of Medical bill
of Rs. 1.34 lakh for
treatment of his father
at Apollo Hospital , Bhubaneswar.
As MIC of OSCB , he
abused his position and illegally
availed Rs.1.34 lakhs
from the OSCB. There was no budgetary allocation approved in the General
body for the disbursement of the said
medical bills in favour of MIC.
Even there was no sanction
of RCS, Odisha for payments of medical bill and incentive/ honourarium to MIC
, since the MIC is subject
to superintendence and control of RCS, Odisha.
8.
After
hearing of both sides , on 5.1.21., the Lokayukta
passed the order appointing its
Director of Inquiry as
Inquiry officer to conduct
preliminary inquiry into the allegations so dvanced and to produce the
report within two months. At the
time when the order was being
passed, the learned counsel for Bishnupada Sethy made
the submission before
Lokayukta for return of the whole
amount, which was seriously
objected to by Justice
Ajit Singh , Chairman of the
Lokayukta.
9.
During
the inquiry, clandestine efforts were
initiated at the bureaucracy
level to protect Bishnupada
Sethi and the inquiry officer
was influenced to prepare
the report accordingly.
The Director of Inquiry
submitted their report before Lokayukta, Odisha in April, 2021, which was however not shared with the
Complainant despite the latter’s
request for obtaining a copy the
report. In the final order of the
Lokayukta dt. 6.7.21 ( day of adjudication of the case) ,
the following observation was found there in, “ considering the
inquiry report, the Lokayukta
is of the view that Sri Sethi , as a Government Servant was
engaged whole time in connection with the affairs of OSCB. Even the Minister,
Cooperation in his comments has confirmed that Sri Sethi worked for full-time
in OSCB”. However, it was factually incorrect. In his submission before Lokayukta, Sri
Sethi has never made submission that
he had worked full time in OSCB. Rather he had justified the appropriation of all benefits citing
OCS Act and Rules. Further Sri
Sethi being Secretary Cooperation Department and Fisheries Department never
worked whole time in OSCB as he was drawing salary and other perks from
Government of Odisha during the relevant period.
10. The Director
of Inquiry gave his finding that
Sri Sethi has been lawfully reimbursed
medical bill amounting to Rs. 3,27,00,000 on different occasions from the Bank
after receiving permission from the Govt.
However, it is to be noted that the
money of OSCB is not Govt. money.
The Govt. is in no way concerned with
the financial matter of the Bank
and can not dictate its terms to
the Bank. In respect
of any decision on financial
matter , the approval
of the General Body and RCS, Odisha is mandatory.
In the matter
of reimbursement of medical Bill
to Sri Sethi , neither General body nor RCS, Odisha
has approved it. The question thus arises, how, the
inquiry officer prepared
such a false report without looking
into legal provisions of OCS Act and
Rules.
11. The Lokayukta , Odisha with a view to give undue protection to Sri
Sethi deliberately and out of the way appreciated Sri Bishnupad Sethi for returning
the entire amount of Rs. 3,27,00,000 to the Bank
as a gesture of good will. But,
the next question arises, if he has
taken the money legally and
inquiry report has justified it, the need for returning the
money didn’t arise at all. It shows
that a secret understanding between Lokayukta and State Govt. with the full knowledge of Sri
Bishnupada Sethi was made, to the effect
that Sri Sethi would return the
amount and Lokayukta
would appreciate it and refrain
from passing any critical order against
Sri Sethi . In a nutshell
the inquiry report and subsequent order of the
Lokayukta were the
result of an unholy nexus and secret understanding between the above mentioned
rhree actors.
12. Moreover it is ridiculous
that Lokayukta has requested
the State Got. to pay back the
money of the medical bill which Sri Sethi had appropriated illegally and after
a long was forced to
return it .
13. The
comments of the Lokayukta
in its Order that “ there was no
denial by the complainant that Sri Sethi was
not whole time engaged in connection with affairs of OSCB “ is
factually wrong and objectionable. The so-called
inquiry report was
neither shared nor quoted verbatim during the hearing of the
case by the Lokayukta, Odisha. Nor the Lokayukta has sought any views from
the complainant about it. The Lokayukta
has deliberately mentioned the above the above only to defame the Complainant
and to protect Sri Bishnupada Sethi from any blemish in the matter.
14. Relying thus completely on a make-believe and secretive
inquiry report, Lokayukta stated
that Sri Sethi was clearly
entitled to receive a bonus under
Section 56 (2)(f) of OCS Act,
1962 and rejected the allegation made against Sri Sethi for receiving the undue financial benefits from OSCB by
misusing his position and
authority.
15. We appeal for instituting a high power independent
inquiry committee to unearth facts around illegal payments made to Sri
Bishnupada Sethi.
Pradip Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date- 12.7.21
