BHUBANESWAR: President of India Ram Nath Kovind has approved the compulsory retirement of suspended IFS officer Abhay Kanta Pathak who has been accused in a high profile job scam by the Crime Branch and is in judicial custody since November, 2020.
As part of its zero tolerance policy towards corruption, Odisha government had recommended to the Centre in December, 2020 for compulsory retirement of Pathak. The State Vigilance had also charged him for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.Official sources said the President of India has approved compulsory retirement of Pathak from service accepting the recommendation of the State government.
Pathak, a 1987-batch IFS officer, was arrested and subsequently suspended from his service after vigilance found that he had allegedly amassed huge property disproportionate to his known sources of income. Subsequently, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recommended sending the official on compulsory retirement.
His son Akash Pathak was accused of conspiring with expelled BJD leader and Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy and cheating several job seekers to the tune of crores of rupees on the pretext of employing them with Tata Motors. To dupe the job aspirants, Pathak had allegedly impersonated himself as the MD of the company.The government has so far given compulsory retirement to 118 officials on alleged charges of corruption.