MARGAO
Margao Municipal Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar has finally lodged a complaint against a Municipal Lower Divisional Clerk with a plea to the police to register an FIR against the erring employee and investigate the matter and register offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and under the IPC.
The Chief Officer, however, said the complaint is filed without prejudice to the rights of the Municipal Council to conduct disciplinary proceedings against him for alleged misappropriation of funds, misconduct and dereliction of duties and also for recovery of the amounts.
In his three-page complaint with the Margao police, the Chief Officer said the LDC with an alleged criminal intent dishonestly misappropriated funds of the Municipal exchequer to his personal accounts for an amount of Rs 17.96 lakh, thereby committing offences of criminal misconduct by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Similarly, the complaint stated that the employee has allegedly committed theft, dishonest misappropriation of public funds and criminal breach of trust by allegedly siphoning the money collected as fees and fines, from the vendors of the Municipal Council to his personal accounts.
“During the preliminary inquiry, it was revealed that the employee used the amount of Rs 17.96 lakh for his personal use and had deposited the amount in his personal bank accounts to clear up his personal outstanding loans. He further issued an affidavit dated June 14 to the Council admitting the fact that an amount of Rs 17.96 lakh is in his custody and he failed to deposit the amount to the Municipal treasury. On the same day, he deposited a sum of Rs three lakh in the Municipal treasury and further requested to grant some time to deposit the balance amount in the municipal treasury”, the Chief Officer further stated in his complaint.
The complaint added: “After preliminary inquiry with the Municipal inspectors, accounts and taxation officer and the Head Clerk, it is revealed that all the fees and fines collected during the Purumentachem fair was taken into custody by the LDC unauthorizedly and an amount of Rs 17.96 lakh was allegedly fraudulently transferred by the employee to his personal bank account, thereby committing theft, misappropriation of municipal funds and causing loss to the Municipal exchequer. The LDC has also unauthorisedly directly collected fees from some of the vendors to his personal GPay account, thereby committing criminal breach of trust”.
