BENGALURU: In view of frequent complaints about the alleged corruption in the treasury department in the release of various bills, the teams of Lokayukta Justice B S Patil and Upa Lokayuktas Justice K N Phaneendra and Justice B Veerappa paid surprise visits to the offices on Tuesday.
Justice Patil visited the State Huzoor Treasury at KR Circle; Justice Phaneendra visited the KGID Treasury at VV Tower; Justice Veerappa visited the treasury offices at Malleshwaram, Yelahanka and Doddaballapur town; and Lokayukta ADGP Manish Kharbikar visited the Bengaluru city treasury office at Kandaya Bhavan.
Justice Veerappa, along with his secretary Aravind NV, who is Deputy Registrar of Enquiries-1, visited the District Treasury Office at Doddaballapur town in Bengaluru rural district. It was found that Prabhavathi S, Deputy Director of Treasury, declared Rs 1,500 was with her in the cash register. When her drawer was checked, an unclaimed amount of Rs 1.2 lakh was found, and Rs 15,000 was also found in her purse.
When Justice Veerappa questioned her, she did not give a proper reply which prima facie is a dereliction of duty. It was also found that only 14 staffers were present out of a total of 24, and four staffers wore casual wear with jeans; two staffers did not mark attendance. The staffers did not wear the ID cards, and no CCTVs were installed in the office.
When the digital wallet of First Division Assistant Keshav Raj at the treasury office in Malleshwaram was checked by the team led by Justice Veerappa, his monthly transactions were in lakhs beyond his monthly salary of Rs 70,000, leading to suspicion. It was also found that Assistant Treasury Officer Mahesh Babu is earning a salary of Rs 1.09 lakh in all, but he did not withdraw the same every month.
At the treasury office in Yelahanka, when the UPI app was checked, the transactions of Assistant Treasury Officer Meena R were also more than her salary. Therefore, all the staff of the treasury offices visited by Justice Veerappa were directed to furnish their two years’ bank statement, UPI statement and I-T returns.
According to the statement, there is no transparency in the release of bills. Also, there were complaints about the release of bills in the treasury of the KGID Department. The officials were found releasing the bills according to their whims and fancies and also withholding them at the front office itself.
