Post Khadse exit, Fadnavis as excise dept head reinstated tainted officials in plum posts

Mumbai: It has been over a year now since the Malvani hooch tragedy in Mumbai claimed 104 lives within a span of four days from 17-20 June 2015. Thanks to the apathy of the excise department, the officials who were charged with dereliction of duty, are still to face any concrete action.[caption id=“attachment_2903208” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Over 100 people lost their lives in the Malvani hooch tragedy last year. Image courtesy News18[/caption] Although the excise department released a statement on 21 June last year saying it suspended four officials—Rajendra Salunkhe, Jagdish Deshmukh, Varsha Vengulkar and Dhanaji Dalvi—for negligence of duty, the departmental inquiry it ordered is nowhere near conclusion. “If you find the slightest evidence of connivance by police/excise officers, take immediate strict action, including suspension, by following the procedure laid down by the law. Such actions should be taken against those found to be involved or found to be conniving, howsoever senior he or she might be,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said on 23 June, 2015. However, even a year after the tragedy the excise department continues with its then Superintendent of Western Suburb Subhash Bodke, without any departmental enquiry instituted against him. Not only that, the principal secretary of the excise department, Rajesh Kumar Meena went on to give an extension by one year to the tainted official, keeping the enquiry on hold. Nothing can be more ironical than this as Fadnavis had earlier warned that he won’t spare anyone for illicit practices. In fact, the alleged grabbing of MIDC land, even saw the exit of then excise minister Eknath Khadse on 4 June, 2016. After cabinet reshuffle of 8 July, 2016, Chandrashekhar Bawankule took over as the excise minister. Sources said that in the interim period between Khadse’s exit and Bawankule’s appointment, the Chief Minister who was overseeing the excise department had approved transfers of 220 inspectors and senior inspectors — 180 of whom are police sub-inspectors and the rest are higher officials. The transfers took place on the advice of State Excise Commissioner Vijay Singhal and Principal Secretary Meena on 2 and 3 July, 2016. The sources also said that more than two dozen senior officials got plum postings in the 35-day period when Fadnavis was heading the excise department. What raised eyebrows in the bureaucratic and political circles was that tainted and suspended bureaucrats of the state excise department got reinstated without facing proper probe. According to a senior government official, these controversial excise officials have not only been reinstated, but also awarded plum postings and promotions. However, despite completion of three years in June this year, Bodke still got an extension without an enquiry even when such a huge tragedy occurred under his jurisdictional area. IPS officer BG Shekhar, who was on deputation from the Maharashtra Police and officiating as the Director (Implementation and Vigilance) after the Malvani tragedy, was surprisingly shunted out on 1 July this year even when he took stern steps to curb illegal activities in the department. His deputation was abruptly cancelled even before he completed a year in his new capacity, sources said. Fisrtpost has a copy of the order that sends Shekhar back to his parent department.

Another officer TR Salunkhe, who was earlier posted as the private secretary to Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, had brazenly disregarded his appointment as a deputy commissioner of police in Nagpur. Instead of facing action for absence of duty since April 2016, Salunkhe was dished out in the same rank in Thane, near Mumbai. Needless to say, Thane is considered a fat posting.

The Maharashtra State Excise Department has got its own stamp of notoriety as postings in Kolhapur, Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Dhule and Jalgaon are considered to be fast money-spinners, albeit not in the right way. Vijay Chinchawalkar, who was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh in June 2013 while he was posted as a superintendent in Ratnagiri, is now back from his punishment transfer in Chandrapur. He was in an non-executive post in Chandrapur since August 2015. Before his punishment transfer, he was under suspension. However, on 2 July, he was posted as superintendent of the Kolhapur zone. Another senior official who was under suspension for taking a bribe and now brought out of suspension is Manohar Anchule. The Thane excise superintendent was caught red-handed by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) for accepting a bribe of Rs 18 lakh in 2015. As per the latest mass transfer order, Anchule has now been posted to Dhule district. Thane excise inspector Rajendra Shirsat, who was embroiled in a molestation-bribery case, now stands reinstated and posted in Pune. Shirsat was suspended after a woman from his department had filed a molestation complaint against him in January 2015. To shield himself from official action, he had allegedly tried to bribe the complainant by offering her Rs 50 lakh. She had then complained to the ACB and Shirsat was caught red-handed in March 2015. Although Firstpost tried to contact Singhal, he neither answered the calls nor replied to the text messages. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the state government, rather than taking action against these “corrupt officials”, is protecting them and reinstating them in prime posts. “It will send a wrong message to the people. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis should look into the matter and take appropriate action. These transfers have happened with his approval, so he must fix responsibility,” Malik said. The state government, has however, denied that any out of turn promotions or transfers have taken place. “All transfers and promotions took place as per rules under the instructions from the Chief Minister who was then in-charge of the state excise department,” said Meena.