Complaint
under Section 37 (4)(c) of Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014
To Date- 9.3.21
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- 1248/2020 dated 17.02.2021
issued by a Lokayukta Bench comprising Justice Ajit Singh Chairperson and his
Companion Member
Esteemed Sir,
We, the following signatories who are anti-corruption activists and users of Odisha Lokayukta
Act 2014 for our fight against corruption of public
servants, would like to urge your esteemed authority to peruse the following complaint
of ours 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 we beg to narrate a summary of the facts and
circumstances that made us to file it before your esteemed authority and we
fervently hope that your august office shall pass an appropriate order in the
matter to meet the ends of justice and probity.
2. As your august office might know, Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation
Ltd. (OMFED) is a registered Apex
Cooperative Society engaged in procurement and distribution of milk for the
financial upliftment of dairy farmers and also for the benefit of consumers of milk
and milk products in the State of Odisha. As your august office might further
know, OMFED procures poly-film through an annual tender process for packaging
of liquid milk for distribution among the consumers.
3. During the period of 2015-16, there occurred an alleged scam amounting to
Rs. 6.35 crore in the process of procurement
of poly-film during the tenure of Sri Bishnupada Sethy, IAS the then Managing Director,
OMFED. It was reported by his successor Sri Madusudan Padhi as Managing Director, OMFED to the Chief
Secretary, Odisha in a letter dt.1.12.16 seeking a fair and comprehensive inquiry
into the said scam.
4. After getting informed about the alleged scam Sri Pradip Pradhan, the present Complainant had filed a complaint dt.
30.10.20 under Section 20 of Odisha Lokayukta
Act before the Hon’ble Lokayukta, Odisha seeking a proper inquiry into the
alleged “corruption in procurement of Poly Film packaging material” procured through
M/s Kamala Agency during the period from August 2015 to June 2016 by Sri
Bishnupada Sethi, IAS the then Managing
Director, OMFED (presently Principal Secretary, Department of Culture, Odia and
Odia Language) in league with other officials of OMFED.
5. The said complaint made before the Lokayukta, was based on a bunch of corroborative
documents, such as (a) letter dt. 1.12.2016 of Madhuduan Padhi, the then Managing Director, OMFED written to
Chief Secretary, Odisha seeking inquiry into a huge loss incurred by
OMFED due to the supply of Poly Film by M/s IDMC, Anand through M/s Kamala
Agency, Cuttack during August, 2015 to
June, 2016; ( b) Note-sheet dt. 3.4.2017
sent by Sri C.S.Kumar IAS, the next
Managing Director of OMFED to the Chief
Secretary, Odisha for an inquiry by a
senior officer of Finance Department; ( c ) letter dt. 9.12.2020 written
by President of OMFED to the
Chief Minister, Odisha pointing out a loss
of Rs. 6.40 crore in the
procurement of Poly Film; and (d)
Audit Report of the office
of Accountant General, Odisha which had highlighted an avoidable loss of
Rs. 4 crore. Further, the
complainant Pradip Pradhan along with others did also submit a Memorandum dt.28.9.2018 to His Excellency Governor
Odisha which was enclosed in the
Complaint before the Lokayukta, and sought for his good offices to ensure a
comprehensive and impartial inquiry into the subject matter of his complaint.
6. On taking cognizance of the said complaint, the Bench-1 headed by Justice
Ajit Singh, Chairperson of Lokayukta and his accompanying Member Sri Debabrata
Swain served a notice each to the Chief Secretary, Odisha and Mr. Bishnupada
Sethy to file their respective replies thereto.
7. On 17.2.2021 the Bench-1 of Lokayukta comprising Justice Ajit Singh Chairperson
and Sri Debarata Swain, Member heard the case for
first time and closed it on the said day, citing the strength of two earlier
held inquiry reports dt. 22.4.2017 and 29.3.2019 submitted by Chief Secretary,
Odisha and Mr. Bishnupada Sethy respectively. It is worth mentioning here that
the first one, that is, the inquiry report dt. 22.4.2017 had been prepared as per
the order of Chief Secretary by three subordinate Departmental officers-
Director AH & VS, Joint Secy. (Fisheries) & Joint Secy. (Veterinary),
all under the control and guidance of
Mr. Bishnupada Sethy, the then Secretary, Dept. of Veterinary and ARD, Govt. of
Odisha, the very person against whom the complaint was lodged. It is further
noteworthy that the decision of the Chief Secretary for administrative inquiry
was objected by Sri C. S. Kumar, the then Managing Director
of OMFED on 3.4.3017. Strangely enough, such a sham enquiry was held again
by officials of same department even after the objection was raised by Sri C.
S. Kumar on the ground of administrative
impropriety, along with his suggestion for instituting a separate inquiry by a
senior officer of Finance Dept. As for the second inquiry, it had been conducted
on 29.3.2019 by the Finance Advisor, Dept. of Veterinary and ARD on the orders
of Hon’ble Governor, Odisha in pursuance to the Complainant’s Memorandum dt.
28.9.2018 addressed to His Excellency seeking an impartial inquiry into the
matter.
8. It is worth recollecting that the aforesaid Lokayukta Bench while passing
their Order dated 17.02.2021 made inter alia the following
observation, “It is sad that the
complainants have suppressed the fact that on their complaint made to the
Hon’ble Governor no action was taken”. But it is humbly submitted that the said observation is unfounded
and slanderous. Because, as a matter of fact, the Finance Advisor of Dept. of F
& ARD, while conducting the enquiry
as ordained by His Excellency Governor Odisha, did neither inform the complainant
nor share with him the fact or findings of his inquiry report. During the hearing
of the complaint, the complainant emphatically and repeatedly clarified this very
matter before the Hon’ble Lokayukta Bench-1 saying that he was completely unaware
about the said enquiry report. However, the Chairperson Lokayukta who
was presiding over the Bench did not pay any heed to the repeated clarification
given by the Complainant and rather preferred to foist a biased and false
allegation against the Complainant. It won’t be out of place to mention here that such an arbitrary, derogatory,
biased and prejudicial stance of the Chairperson Lokayukta adopted against the
Complainant as revealed from the impugned Order dated 17.02.2021, served a pre-meditated and pre-determined intent of the Chairperson Lokayukta himself, that is,
to cover up the scam and shield its perpetrator Sri Bishnupada Sethy, on one hand and to malign and
scandalize the complainant on the other.
9. Besides, the Lokayukta, while hearing
the complaint had
deliberately ignored two other
documents i.e., Audit report of the office of Accountant General, Bhubaneswar dt.
26.5.2017 which had identified serious irregularities in poly film
procurement and letter dt.9.12.2016 sent by Chairperson, OMFED to the Chief
Minister, Odisha. It needs to be mentioned that the resolution passed in the 101th Board meeting of OMFED
while appreciating the report of Sri Madhusudan Padhi the
erstwhile MD of OMFED, had decided to
withhold the amount payable to Kamala Agency, Cuttack. Again, as per the report
of Chief Secretary which had been produced before the Lokayukta, Odisha, the
pending payment amounting to Rs. 3, 31, 49, 180.54 had not been paid till then to M/s Kamala
Agency, indicating thereby brazenly visible loss to this extent during the tenure of Mr. Bishnupada Sethy as
MD of OMFED.
This withheld amount till date proves the extra commission amount allowed to
M/S Kamala Agency. Such order of Lokayukta
gives scope for
this Agent to claim the amount Rs.
3.31 crore as a matter of right, unless
this order of the Lokayukta is set aside.
10.
It needs to be further mentioned that the
Chairperson Lokayukta while blindly relying
on the pre-existing two enquiry reports which were orchestrated ones as
mentioned above, completely avoided seeking any views from Sri Madhusudan Padhi, the successor to Sri Bishnupada Sethy as
MD OMFED, who had first detected the loss caused
due to Sri Sethy’s mishandling of Poly Film procurement. Not only that. The
Chairperson Lokayukta went to the extent of blemishing Sri Madhu Sudan Padhi,
that “ the complaint of
Madhu Sudan Padhi was not well intentioned” – fact which lays bare the intention of
Chairperson Lokayukta to hush up anyhow the allegation of corruption, favoritism and
abuse of power leveled against Sri Bishnupada Sethy as
MD OMFED.
11.
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,
precisely on the following grounds-
(a) Reliance on two pre-existing, orchestrated enquiry reports prepared under
the influence of the alleged culprit Sri Bishnupada Sethy,
instead of ordering a fresh and comprehensive enquiry into the complaint lodged
against him, as required under Section 14(1) of
Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014;
(b) Failure to give an opportunity of hearing to Sri Madhusudan Padhi the former MD OMFED, who had originally
advanced the allegation of corruption against his predecessor Sri Bishnupada
Sethy in the matter of alleged arbitrary mishandling of Poly Film procurement that
resulted in a huge loss over few crores to the concerned PSU- as required under
Second Proviso to Section 20(1) of Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014;
(c) Failure to identify the factors and accuse the actors responsible for the
alleged financial loss caused to a thriving PSU of Odish like OMFED during the
tenure of Sri Bishnupada Sethy as MD
OMFED as reported by his successor Sri Madhusudan Padhi- a fact which indicates a chronic
inability of Chairman Odisha Lokayukta
to comprehend the letter and spirit of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, the
quintessential rationale for enactment of Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014; and
(d) Failure to place on record the statement of facts of the Complainant Sri
Pradip Pradhan expressed in course of
the hearing, as is evident from the deficient, truncated and biased Order dated
17.02.2021 of Lokayukta- a fact which indicates intellectual inefficiency,
non-application of mind and judicial prudence on the part Lokayukta
Chairperson.
12. 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
dated 30.10.2020 and exploring all angles thereto, so as to unearth the factors
and actors responsible for the huge financial loss caused to a thriving PSU of
the State OMFED, during the tenure of Sri Bishnupada Sethy as its MD.
Yours sincerely
Pradip Pradhan Sudhir
Mohanty
State Convener Advocate,
High Court, Odisha
Odisha
Soochana
Adhikar Abhijan Member,
National Co-Convener, NCPRI Odisha Durniti Sangharsh Manch
Member,
Advisory Group of NHRC, New Delhi Bhubaneswar , M-9861063290
Plot
No-D-27, Maitree Vihar
Post-Rail
Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751023
M-9937843482
Debesh Das
Advisor, Odisha Lokayukta Abhijan
Advisor , OSAA
Cuttack , M- 9937253883
