IAS officer used riot-victims’ funds to pay power bills

Shruti Setia Chhabra, TNN 20 October 2009, 03:56am IST

CHANDIGARH: Funds marked for 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims used to pay electricity bills of a Punjab cadre IAS officer!

Information procured under the RTI Act has revealed that Rakhee Gupta Bhandari, when posted as additional deputy commissioner (development) Ludhiana, in 2002, had abused her position to divert the riots victims’ funds on September 11, 19 and 24 that year for paying power bills of her official residence.

Documents procured by NGO Resurgence India, a copy of which is with TOI, reveal that the officer made payments worth Rs 23,714 by projecting the expenses as those of her camp office (at her residence) even though there is no provision for it. Even if it is presumed that the officer was entitled to set up an office at her official residence, electricity bill of the entire premises — Kothi No. 1, Rose Garden, Ludhiana — could not be attributed to the camp office — the bill for which could not have been more than 5-10% of the total amount.

The documents reveal that the officer categorically certified, while approving the contingent bill for Rs 3,317.50, that, “The charges on account of electricity consumption/kerosene oil/telephone calls included in these bills are for bonafide purposes of rural development agency and not for private use.”

with thanks : source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/-IAS-officer-used-riot-victims-funds-to-pay-power-bills/articleshow/5140361.cms

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