Chhatisgarh Monsoon session 2024: Raipur. After the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission came into controversy, the controversial PSC chairman Tomn Singh Sonwani was also tainted during his IAS service. After the selection of many family members, Chhattisgarh PSC made headlines across the country. Now in response to a scam that took place during his service, Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai has given this written information. He was punished on 3 July 2019 during the tenure of Congress.

MLA Ajay Chandrakar asked whether the Panchayat and Rural Development Department had conducted any investigation against the then Chief Executive Officer of District Panchayat Janjgir Champa in the time period between 2012 and 2014 regarding irregularities in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and other schemes? Which points were found correct in the investigation? Has the Rural Development Department in the Panchayat written to the General Administration Department for appropriate action for investigation under All India Services Discipline and Appeal Rule 8? If yes, then who was the investigating officer and who was the departmental presenting officer? Was the investigation found correct or wrong? If the investigation was found correct, then what action was taken against the concerned officer?

In response to which Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai said that yes, the investigation was done. Under the order issued by the Panchayat and Rural Development Department on 7 August 2014, three investigation sites were constituted to investigate 9 such Gram Panchayats of the state which have spent more than 1 crore rupees in the year 2014-15 till July 2014. Commissioner Mahatma Gandhi NREGA and Chief Engineer and State Quality Coordinator, Chhattisgarh Rural Road Agency, Raipur were appointed as investigation officers to investigate four Gram Panchayats of Malkharoda development block of Janjgir-Champa district and two Gram Panchayats of Pamgarh development block.

In this case, the officials and employees of the 6 Gram Panchayats mentioned above, the officials and employees of the Janpad Panchayat Mal Kharoda and the District Panchayat openly violated the guidelines and government instructions of the scheme and misused the government money. It has also been mentioned in the investigation report that the officer who sanctioned the administrative amount did not discharge his responsibility properly.

For the investigation, the Departmental Investigation Commissioner Raipur was appointed as the investigation officer. Additional Commissioner Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Raipur was appointed as the presenting officer. The department had imposed 12 charges against the then Chief Executive Officer District Panchayat Janjgir Champa Tomman Singh Sonwani. Out of which three were found to be proved. Apart from this, three were found to be partially proved.

Substantiated allegations

In his capacity as the Chief Executive Officer of the District Panchayat, the works were to be approved as per the allocation received by the district under the 13th Finance Commission. But Sonwani issued approval orders for an amount higher than the allocation received, which falls under the category of misconduct under the All India Service Conduct Rules 1968.

As the Chief Executive Officer of the District Panchayat, Sonwani's responsibility was to approve works for the 13th Finance Commission item by following the work plan approved by the High Committee and the instructions of the Government. But for the 13th Finance Commission item, most of the infrastructure construction works were approved by Sonwani arbitrarily with the aim of obtaining unfair benefits by not approving the amount on the basis of item-wise percentage as per the annual work plan approved by the State Rights Committee and the instructions given by the State Government. Which comes under the category of misconduct.

As the Chief Executive Officer of the District Panchayat, Sonwani was responsible to issue the approval order on the basis of the proposal received from the members under the 13th Finance Commission in the general meeting of the District Panchayat, but Sonwani did not follow the instruction of issuing the approval order on the basis of approval in priority order on the basis of the proposal received from the members under the 13th Finance Commission scheme in the general meeting of the District Panchayat dated 11 June 2014. Which comes under the category of misconduct.

Punishment

In the case, by General Administration Order dated 3rd July 2019, a penalty of reduction in time pay scale by one level to the lower level for a period of one year has been imposed against Taman Singh Sonwani, the then Chief Executive Officer, District Janjgir Champa with further directions that the members of the service shall not earn increments during the period of such reduction and the reduction shall not affect the suspension of their increments on expiry of this period.