Virudhunagar Collector J. Meghanath Reddy has withdrawn the cheque signing power of Mettamalai panchayat president for locking up the panchayat office preventing officials from verifying documents of the local body.
In a statement, the Collector said that the panchayat secretary of Mettamalai Kathiresan was arrested by the sleuths of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on February 8, on the charge of demanding and accepting ₹ 20,000 for processing a building plan approval application.
Since, the panchayat president refused to provide relevant documents from the panchayat to the DVAC officials for their investigation purpose, an inquiry committee headed by Executive Engineer (Rural Development), including Assistant Director (Panchayats), was formed.
When the committee members visited the panchayat office for the inquiry, the panchayat president had left the office locked with an intention to prevent the enquiry.
Consequently, the lock of the office was broken open in the presence of village administrative officer.
However, the officials could not verify the monthly accounts of the panchayat as no file of the local body was found in the office, the statement said.
Besides preventing the accounts verification, the president had not submitted resolutions with regard to execution of Jal Jeevan Mission .
Stating that the panchayat president had failed to discharge the basic duty, in the interest of the panchayat administration and development of local body and fulfilling the basic needs of the people, the Collector withdrew, till further orders, the cheque signing authority of the panchayat president under the provisions of Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act 1994.
The power has been given to the Sattur Panchayat Union Block Development Officer (Village panchayats), the statement said.
