JAGATSINGHPUR: Collector Parul Patawari on Wednesday directed the district education officer (DEO), Jagatsinghpur to withhold the salaries of seven officers of the Erasama block office on the charge of dereliction of duty.
Erasama block education officer (BEO) Bijay Senapati, two assistant BEOs (ABEOs) - Siba Chandra Behera and Liyakat Ali Khan, section officer Maheswer Sethy and three accountants had failed to answer the queries put by Patawari during an inspection she had conducted on March 27.
Sources said Patawari while visiting the block education office questioned the ABEOs on the number of schools in the block which none could answer. Besides, they also weren’t able to furnish details about the functioning of watch and ward personnel in the schools and details of the mid-day meals.
When the three accountants were asked about the allotment, stock, pension and school management committee (SMC) registers, they failed to provide their details owing to which Patawari asked BEO Senapati to hold their salaries.
Meanwhile, section officer Maheswar Sethy who was in charge of the RTI section, was also unable to produce details of the RTI compliance register as it was reportedly not updated since 2021.
When questioned of the discrepancies, BEO Senapati confessed they weren’t updating the files through e-office mode. Patawari further directed DEO Niranjan Behera to withhold the salaries of BEO Senapati and the two ABEOs too.