The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) Friday withdrew the suspension of six employees, four of whom were allegedly involved in a bribery case involving former standing committee chairperson Nitin Landge. The two others are accused in a separate bribery case.
Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh, who is also the PCMC administrator running the show in the absence of an elected body of corporators, issued the orders to withdraw the suspension of all the accused. He also issued directives to allot work to them in non-executive posts.
On August 18, 2021, four employees were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Department for allegedly accepting a bribe for getting the signature of the standing committee chairperson in connection with issuing a work order. They had allegedly demanded Rs 1.18 lakh from a contractor.
The two other employees, from the tax department, were also caught accepting bribes by ACB sleuths. The then civic administration had suspended all the six and they were out of the PCMC for 16 months.
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The civic body administration said they have been reinstated following recommendation of the Suspension Review Committee. The committee consisted of PCMC commissioner Shekhar Singh, Additional Municipal Commissioner Ulhas Jagtap, Assistant Commissioner Ashadevi Durgude, Deputy Commissioner Chandrakant Indalkar and another Deputy Commissioner Sunil Joshi.
The municipal commissioner in his order said that these employees should not be given any work related to monetary transactions or anything which allows them to establish contact with the people.
The civic body administration said the decision to withdraw the suspension has been taken after taking into consideration their departmental probe as well as the pending court case.
When contacted, Deputy Municipal Commissioner Sunil Joshi said, “All these employees had been suspended 16 months back. However, they were drawing 75 per cent of salary pending the court case. The civic body has the power to withdraw their suspension and get work done from them instead of allowing them to sit home and draw 75 per cent of the salary. However, these employees will not be given any work related to financial transactions.”
Notice to contractor in jackwell case
The PCMC, which has denied allegations that it has finalised a tender of a higher amount to construct a jackwell in the Bhama Askhed dam, issued show-cause notice to the contractor who was in the process of being selected for the work. The show-cause notice was issued after former PCMC corporator Seema Savale and Pimpri-Chinchwad NCP alleged that the civic body was favouring a contractor who was black-listed in Madhya Pradesh.
“Several complaints have been received by this office against you (the contractor)…related to poor work performance, work termination and litigation history of Nagpur Smart and sustainable city development corporation limited, Nagpur Improvement Trust, National Company Law Tribunal Mumbai Bench, Court-11, UADD/ MPUDC Bhopal, Municipal Council Mandala etc. As per tender clause 4.2, it was mandatory to disclose the litigation history during the last five years in which the bidder is involved. However, no such litigation history as above mentioned or disclosed in the bid. In this regard, you are instructed to clarify the status of such litigation matters along with the reasons for misleading the representation and hiding such litigation history and why the action should not be initiated against you as per tender clause 4.7,” the civic body administration said.