In an unprecedented development, the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department has suspended 28 officials, besides recommending to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms and the Finance Department to initiate disciplinary action against 11 senior officials, including two IAS officers, on the charge of clearing bills without uploading details of civil works on the Gandhi Sakshi Kayaka, a web-based software.
Officials are expected to upload photographs of the work and related documents on the software. In all, 39 officials figure in the list for clearing bills manually and not uploading them.
The two IAS officers had served as Chief Executive Officers in districts previously.
The Finance Department has been asked to initiate action against Mallaiah, Chief Accounts Officer (CAO), Chitradurga; M.R. Chandrashekar, former CAO, Ramanagaram; Devendrappa, former CAO, Yadgir; Suryakant Biradar, Assistant Director, Agriculture, Bhalki; and J.J. Nayak, Assistant Conservator of Forests. As N. Krishnappa, K.R. Rudrappa, Suryakanta Shankaragonda and K. Revanappa are of the rank of Deputy Secretary, their files have been sent to the Chief Minister to get clearance to initiate action.
According to RDPR Minister H.K. Patil, Gandhi Sakshi Kayaka is a workflow-based system, which also utilises Google Maps.
It is mandatory to upload photos of different stages of civil works and related documents, failing which bills will not be generated.
All RDPR projects, barring those related to drinking water and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, fall under this initiative.
It has been revealed that more than 64 officials in the department had been involved in clearing bills “manually”.
“Notices were issued to 39 officials, who did not respond. Hence, action is being initiated against them,” Mr. Patil said.
Now, financial institutions, banks and the Treasury Department have been directed against clearing manually-generated bills.
