BENGALURU: The Justice Nagamohan Das Committee has given the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike 15 days’ time to recover Rs 76 crore in 67 cases of misappropriation of funds that were meant for various BBMP works in Rajajinagar, Malleswaram and Gandhinagar constituencies, spanning a total of 6,148 cases. BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar on Tuesday held a high-level closed-door meeting with retired judge Justice Das to discuss the misappropriation of funds while undertaking civil works in the three assembly constituencies.
Speaking to media on the sidelines of the meeting, Kumar said the committee questioned why there was a delay from BBMP to take action against erring 31 contractors and 33 officials. The officials comprise serving and retired BBMP and Public Works Department officials.
The committee reportedly asked the BBMP chief what action had been taken so far and what was proposed to be taken. They also accused the BBMP of not submitting complete information in the past.The Committee was constituted by the state government to look into the anomalies between 2008 and 2011. Its members and the BBMP chief discussed the contents of the legislative report prepared by it. They also discussed the formation and findings of the audit report and the report submitted by retired IAS officer Rajendra Kataria.
Kumar said they assured the committee of taking penal as well as legal action on the serving officials. However, it was yet to be decided on how to deal with retired officers. The committee was also assured that they would act as per High Court directions to not give contracts to the erring contractors in future.