Bhubaneswar: Retired IAS officer and former Dhenkanal Collector Nityananda Mohanty and two others were on Thursday convicted by a court in Odisha in a corruption case involving the alleged misappropriation of around Rs nine lakh in government funds.
The Special Judge, Vigilance, Dhenkanal, convicted Mohanty, former Project Director of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) Suryanarayan Das, and transport contractor Satyananda Balasamanta. The court sentenced each of them to one year of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine.
According to the Vigilance, Mohanty was serving as Dhenkanal Collector during 2001-02 when the irregularities took place. Das was then serving as PD, DRDA, while Balasamanta was a transport contractor.
The three were charge-sheeted under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, along with Sections 468, 471, 420 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.
The Vigilance investigation found that Mohanty had approved a higher rate proposed by Das for transporting rice and wheat from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godown in Dhenkanal to various block and Gram Panchayat headquarters under a labour-intensive work programme.
The agency alleged that the prescribed transportation rates of the Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation were not followed. Instead, higher rates were paid to the contractor after accepting hand quotations submitted by him, in violation of government norms.
The Vigilance department said the actions of the accused caused financial loss to the government exchequer.
Vigilance will now move the competent authority seeking stoppage of the pension of Mohanty and Das, both of whom have since retired from government service.