Almost a week after a District Child Protection Officer levelled corruption charges against Social Welfare Minister V. Saroja, the Minister on Tuesday dismissed the allegations, claiming that the official was only trying to divert the attention from a complaint of financial irregularities against her.
In a statement, Ms. Saroja said a complaint against the DCPO, Rajameenakshi, was pending. The Minister denied having called the official to meet her.
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Financial irregularities
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Ms. Saroja said that the DCPO was appointed in the temporary post on September 19, 2016 in Dharmapuri district on consolidated pay.
She had been given powers to sign cheques as the DCPO along with the Probation Officer.
“The Probation Officer had given a complaint that the Ms. Rajameenakshi had produced fake receipts and attempted financial irregularities in March this year and a District Collector had ordered a probe into the complaint during the same month,” the Minister claimed.
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Instead of appearing for an inquiry, the official met the Minister at her residence on May 7 seeking a transfer to Chennai and to convert her post into a permanent post, the Minister said. “I told that her request cannot be considered. The very fact that the official met me instead of the Commissioner and the District Collector and the Department Secretary showed her ulterior motive to bring disrepute to me,” Mr. Saroja said.