BENGALURU: The state government faced major embarrassment in the Legislative Council on Tuesday after Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani accused a senior IAS officer of not clearing a file related to a sugar factory. In a rare instance, the minister even named the officer in the House. Nirani’s remarks during a debate on sugar factories exposed a lack of understanding between the ministers and officers, drawing flak from the Opposition members.
“The sugar minister is doing good work and encouraging sugar industries, but department secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey, who is here, has not given the lease agreement for the last two years, despite being told by the chief minister and the sugar minister,” Nirani said, pointing towards the officers’ gallery in the Council. The Pandavapura Cooperative Sugar Factory in Mandya was given to Nirani’s firm Nirani Sugars Limited on a lease for 40 years. Expressing his displeasure, the minister, who is also an industrialist, said he invested Rs 50 crore to start operations. “He (IAS officer) has not given the lease agreement. As a minister, I am not sure if I can speak about it here. I feel sad about it,” Nirani said.
His statement led to a furore in the Council as opposition Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) members hit out at the government. “If this is the situation of a minister, imagine the state of affairs,” said Congress MLC Prakash Rathod.
Minister for Textiles and Sugar Shankar Patil Munenakoppa, however, defended the IAS officer saying that officers have to follow the rules. Patil explained that Nirani’s factory had sought stamp duty exemption and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will decide on it. Sources said the lease agreement was not signed as the stamp duty exemption that comes to around Rs 26 crore was not part of the tender conditions and it was not accepted by the government. The CM held two rounds of talks and it was decided that the tax will be initially paid by the government and later the company will pay it back in instalments, sources said.