Fake appointments made in Cuttack civic body: Govt to HC

The Odisha government today admitted before the High Court that a large number of fake appointments were made in Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) in two phases during 1996-97 and 1998-99.
Salaries against these non-existent employees continue to be drawn, which go into the pockets of some key officials, it said.
In an affidavit made before the Orissa High Court, the State Urban Development Secretary Govindrajan Mathivathnan said irregularities have been committed by the civic body (CMC) authorities in appointments for the posts of sweepers, road gangs, drain gangs, de-weeding workers and teachers.
The government also informed the court that criminal action will be initiated against the erring officials within 30 days as per the provisions of Odisha Municipal Act, 1950 and steps to be taken as per the provisions of Odisha Local Audit Fund Act of 1948 to recover the illegal payments made against the fake appointments.

The government affidavit came in the wake of an earlier High Court notice made in response to a PIL filed by senior city-based journalist Pradeep Sahu.
The PIL was filed in 2003 in which the petitioner had alleged that 117 fake appointments were made during 1996-97 fiscal and 157 were made in 1998-99 fiscal.