DHBVN issues chargesheet against 38 officers

State power utility Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) today said it has issued chargesheets against 38 officers for allegedly committing irregularities in the implementation of Meter Pillar Box Scheme.
The officers include two Chief Engineers, four Superintending Engineers, seven Executive Engineers, six SDOs, two Financial Advisers, one Senior Account Officer, one Accounts Officer, seven Junior Engineers, seven Divisional Accountants and one Section Officer.
These 38 officers had given "undue advantage" to contractors and caused loss to the Nigam, said DHBVN Managing Director Arun Kumar Verma in a release issued here.
Giving the details, Verma said the Nigam had introduced the Meter Pillar Box Scheme in April, 2013.

Under this scheme, the meters were to be installed in meter pillar boxes placed outside the premises of consumers in order to check power theft and maintain load balance on distribution transformers.
For this purpose, the Nigam management had initially enlisted 15 firms, which were later increased to 21. The Nigam had also approved the maximum unit rate of all heads under the scheme.

He said on the basis of irregularities found during a investigation in Faridabad Circle, it appears that similar irregularities could also be found in other circles.
After that, a 10-member investigation committee headed by DHBVN Chief Engineer Dalip Singh and Superintending Engineer R K Sodha was constituted in 2014 on the recommendation of Director (Vigilance), Haryana Power Utilities, and approval of Principal Secretary, Power.

Verma said keeping in view the negligence towards their duty on part of these 38 officers, giving undue advantage to contractors and causing loss to the Nigam, chargesheets have been issued against them.
He added that recommendations were sought from the Board of Directors and legal team before issuing the chargesheets and the State Vigilance Bureau is also investigating this matter independently.