Odisha Govt Sacks Senior IAS Officer On Corruption Charge

Bhubaneswar: The state government on Wednesday dismissed senior IAS officer Vinod Kumar from service on corruption charge after the Centre approved the state government’s proposal in this regard.

Kumar is accused of sanctioning funds through unfair means when he was the managing director of Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) after Super Cyclone in 1999.

The Special Vigilance Court of Odisha had convicted Kumar for financial irregularities in the ORHDC and sentenced him to 3-year imprisonment in 2022.

In 2007, the Vigilance had registered the case against Kumar for showing undue favour to builders and others to get loans of around Rs 47 lakh from the ORHDC without any securities after Super Cyclone in 1999.

The Vigilance had accused him of providing funds, meant for construction of low-cost houses for the victims after the cyclone, to an NGO in an arbitrary manner without following the guidelines to set up Rural Building Centre in Balipatna on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

Kumar had been arrested and sent to jail several times in the past. The anti-corruption wing had registered 28 cases against him for allegedly showing undue favour in getting loans from the ORHDC and amassing properties disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The Orissa High Court had rejected the bail pleas of Kumar, a 1989-batch IAS officer, and told him to surrender. Following his surrender, he was sent to Jharpada Jail in Bhubaneswar.