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Bureaucrat ‘punished’ for levelling charges against Minister

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Government is in a fix following one of its senior bureaucrats, R. S. Gathala, charging State Agriculture Minister Prabu Lal Saini of connivance in misappropriation of funds of the National Horticulture Mission.

Mr. Gathala, who worked with Mr. Saini in the past as Secretary, Horticulture, levelled the charges in an interview with a local newspaper three days ago. Now the bureaucrat has openly challenged the State Government to take action against him if proved wrong.

Prompt action came from the Government but not in the case of the Minister but of the bureaucrat. Mr. Gathala, now Commissioner, Department of Enquiries, has been placed in the category of APO (awaiting posting order). A nonchalant Mr. Gathala has applied for VRS (voluntary retirement from service). An embarrassed Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has charged the bureaucrat with “political ambitions” in this election year.

The State Government also ordered an enquiry by Ashish Bahuguna, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, into the allegations. On his part, Mr. Saini in a letter he wrote to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje explaining his position termed the charges as “politically motivated”.

The Opposition in the State, the Congress and the Communist Party of India, have termed the “scandal” yet another in a long list of cases of bungling committed by ministers during the past four years. While the Congress is planning to take up the issue with the State Governor, the CPI (M) State Secretariat in a statement here demanded resignation of Mr. Saini. The party also demanded that the Government come out with the details of all Centrally-sponsored schemes in the State.

“The action against Mr. Gathala only reflects the guilt feeling of the Government,” said CPI (M) State Secretariat member Ravindra Shukla.

Interestingly, Mr. Gathala was transferred previously as Secretary, Horticulture, in March last year when after a visit to Kota he wrote to the authorities informing that grants had been sanctioned to fictitious persons for buying pesticides. He had suggested a social audit on the spending under the Horticulture Mission in Rajasthan. The State gets an annual allocation of Rs.100 crore for the Mission.

A defiant Mr. Gathala, taking to this correspondent, said he stood by his version and was willing to face the consequences. “Money has been drawn in the name of thousands of farmers. Their thumb impression in the receipts is missing while the signatures are there—but by the same persons. There is no mention of the khasra number or other details of the land owned by the farmers,” he observed.

“As Secretary, Horticulture, I wrote to the Collectors of 17 districts where the Mission is being implemented to carry out social audits. Now those in the Government talk about supervisory neglect on my part. But soon after my informing the authorities about the possibility of a big scam, they transferred me out of the department,” Mr. Gathala said. “How could they sanction subsidy for buying pesticides when there was no report on any kind of disease to crops?” Mr. Gathala wondered. “It took no time for the sanctions. Everything happened with clockwork efficiency in the system within 2-3 days,” he said.

The Minister’s son is reportedly, among others, in pesticide business.

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