PANAJI
Five years after the controversial deal was inked giving Froto Miles the all-clear to operate as a taxi-aggregator under the brand name GoaMiles, Goa's Lokayukta has given a clean chit to IAS officer Nikhil Desai, and held that there is no charge of personal malfeasance.
Desai was then the managing director of Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) which zeroed in on Froto Miles Pvt Ltd as the agency to operate the taxi aggregator service in 2018-19. RTI activist Sudeep Tamankar and another complainant had lodged a complaint against Desai and other government officials before the Lokayukta alleging that Frotomiles was favoured by them.
In the order passed earlier this week on Wednesday, Lokayukta Ambadas Joshi, said: "This forum concludes that any illegality vis-a-vis any mandatory provision of law has not been committed by the Respondents. Much less any factual or legal malice -- personal gain etc. is shown or proved."