BHUBANESWAR: The Lokayukta of Odisha on Wednesday cleared senior IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi of charges levelled against him in connection with the procurement of poly-film pouches for packaging of Omfed milk.Quoting previous inquiry reports submitted by the Chief Secretary, the anti-corruption panel stated that the decision taken by Sethi was in the best interest of consumers, farmers and Omfed.
The two-member panel, however, questioned the intention of another bureaucrat Madhu Sudan Padhi, who succeeded Sethi as managing director of Omfed in 2016. “The findings of the inquiry reports are well-founded and unassailable. It is clear that the complaint of Padhi was not well intentioned. Even the complainants suppressed the fact that no action was taken on their complaint made before the Governor. We do not appreciate such a conduct of the complainants,” the Lokayukta order stated.
Earlier, a petition was filed before the Lokayukta against Sethi alleging irregularities in procurement of poly-film pouches for packaging of milk when he was managing director of Omfed.It was alleged that the poly-film pouches were procured without any tender causing a loss of `6.35 crore to Omfed during the period from August 2015 to June 2016.
The petition was filed as the State government did not take any action on a complaint lodged by Padhi before the Chief Secretary to order an inquiry by an appropriate agency to fix responsibility and recover the loss.In 2017, a committee led by the then Director of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services along with Joint Secretary (Veterinary) and Joint Secretary (Fishery) as members had found that there was no loss incurred by Omfed on purchase of poly pouch.