In a rare action against an IAS officer, the Privilege Committee submitted its report to the Assembly on Thursday recommending to not appoint Chandrakant Gudewar, the former Amaravati Municipal Commissioner, to any executive post.
BJP MLA Dr. Sunil Deshmukh had complained of breach of privilege by the officer in the Assembly. He claimed that Mr. Gudewar bypassed his rights of being a elected representative by sidelining him in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and making adverse comments against him in the media.
Privilege Committee member and BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar presented the committee report to the Assembly and recommended three punishments to Mr. Gudewar. According to the report, the officer will be called to the State legislative building and warned by the Chief Secretary. Secondly, he will have to spend one day with the chief security officer of the legislature. Lastly, no executive position will be given to him in future. The report now awaits the approval of the House.
Mr Bhatkhalkar said, “We would like to inform the officers through this report that they should refrain from making any adverse comments against elected representatives in the media.”
Mr. Gudewar is at present the Deputy Commissioner, Rural Development, in Pune. Welcoming the report, Nationalist Congress Party MLA Jitendra Awhad said it will set an important precedent. “It has been observed lately that officers have forgotten to follow basic decency while dealing with peoples’ representatives,” he said.
Following to the report, Speaker Haribhau Bagde accepted another breach of privilege motion against Sunil Saindane, a tehsil officer from Nasik. The motion was moved by NCP MLA Deepika Chavan. In 2008, the then Chief Electoral Officer Nand Lal was sent to two-day jail custody after the House unanimously accepted a breach of privilege motion against him.
