Minister seeks details of pending inquiries against water supply, sanitation officials

CHANDIGARH : Taking serious note of vigilance and disciplinary inquiries besides departmental proceedings pending for years, Punjab’s water supply and sanitation minister Razia Sultana has directed the officials to take time-bound action in all such cases.
The minister has sought details of all such cases from across the state. She has also directed the officials to inform since when these cases are hanging in balance and explain the reason for such a long delay.
Sources said several officials involved in these cases in the department have even retired from service.The state government have even withheld their retirement benefits due to pendency in final disposal of such cases. At the same time, there are many cases where the real culprits have got scot-free due to inaction of the department.
A senior officer said there are some cases where corruption complaints against employees had been delayed for years with the connivance of department officials. When the accused in such cases superannuate from service, they later approach courts seeking release of their retirement benefits blaming the department for the delay in completion of probe. The courts have also given relief to many retirees in such cases by slapping fine on the department for the delay.
Sultana, who also heads the higher education department, has also issued directions to the officials to dispose of pending cases of employees in a time-bound manner. The minister said it had come to her notice that college principals as well as other staff keep making rounds of the head offices to inquire about their pending cases regarding their promotion, seniority list, provident fund withdrawal and ex-India leave. “This results in the loss of their valuable time. Directions have been issued to all the officers concerned to take swift action in such cases and send the action taken report within a month,” she added.