BENGALURU: For the first time, Upa Lokayukta Justice B Veerappa has registered suo motu complaints against all the 25 grama panchayats (GPs) of Srinivasapura taluk in Kolar district for rampant maladministration and corruption. This is the first such action taken by the Karnataka Lokayukta in its history.
Justice Veerappa’s action follows his surprise visits to the gram panchayats on September 30 and December 2. He has brought the entire system, including the district administration, taluk panchayats and GPs, under the scanner now.
This is just the beginning and he plans to initiate further action in districts like Tumakuru and Mandya, to bring reforms at GPs, taluk and zilla panchayats to help the needy, fix accountability and responsibility.
The fundamental issues being examined by Justice Veerappa are cleanliness, maintenance of drains, drinking water supply, street lights, solid waste management, preservation of water bodies from pollution and encroachment, and illegal mining as each receives Rs 1.5-2 crore every year from the state government.
The complaints have been registered against panchayat development officers, secretaries, bill collectors, data entry operators, technical assistants, assistant executive engineers of rural drinking water and sanitation and junior engineers of panchayat raj engineering division of GPs. The complaint has also been filed against Sarvesh K, Executive Officer, Srinivasapura Taluk Panchayat.
Two PDOs were suspended -- AN Shankarappa of Arikunte GP for misusing Rs 68 lakh and not releasing Rs 6.69 lakh to a contractor for borewell repair and Manjunath NK of Nambihalli GP for dereliction of duty.
Gram Panchayat scam: Upa Lokayukta says official violated Panchayat Raj Act
As the Upa Lokayukta has found out, with the help of his Secretary Aravind NV, Deputy Registrar-1, the irregularities are rampant. In one of the complaints, he has pointed out that in Dalasanur GP, the records show that during 2019-2020, Rs 3 lakh was spent on the construction of a road, but it did not exist, while money was paid for desilting of drains, but no work was done.
Also, funds have been released for works not done under MGNREGA. No books of accounts have been maintained for cleaning of drains and maintenance of hygiene under the 15th Finance Programme. Three lakes out of six have been encroached and bills have been cleared without quotations for implementing the works.
Though it is mandated that tenders should be invited for expenses above Rs 10,000, every month two to four bills for such amounts were cleared. No details were furnished about the grant released for SC/ST communities, physically challenged and construction of goat and cow sheds.
When digital payment apps on the phones of employees were checked, it was found that more transactions were made than the actual salary. He also found misappropriation of funds under the Jal Jeevan Mission. There has been no information on roads and garbage collection vehicles, while no logbook of borewells was maintained.
He noted in the order that Sarvesh was found to have violated Section 232(A) of the Karnataka Grama Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act, 1993, which amounts to dereliction of duty, by not taking steps to ensure that GPs are on track.