VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, April 19: Jharkhand assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto and his predecessor Dinesh Oraon have conveniently ignored the direction of the then Governor Draupadi Murmu for the CBI inquiry into the illegal appointments in the Jharkhand assembly secretariat.
Congress’ Alamgir Alam, who is currently a minister in the Hemant Soren-led JMM-Congress-RJD government, was the Speaker of the assembly (20 October 2006-26 December 2009). During this period, he allegedly appointed 150 persons to different posts in an illegal manner.
Notably, the Governor had shot off a letter to Dinesh Oraon on September 10, 2018, where she stated that there were some audio conversations related to illegal appointments which needed to be probed by the CBI.
In the letter, she mentioned that the Justice Vikramaditya Prasad Inquiry Commission was instituted to inquire into illegal appointments and promotions. The commission in its report containing 30 reference points, submitted to the Governor. In the light of the recommendations, Governor Draupadi Murmu directed the then Speaker to ensure that no coercive action was taken against any of the assembly employees who worked as the supporting staff of the inquiry commission. They should be rewarded with increments. The letter further pointed out that one assembly employee Virendra Kumar who worked as the secretary of the inquiry commission has been punished, and the same should not have been done. The increment of Virendra Kumar was stopped by Dinesh Oraon for his alleged misbehaviour with assembly employee Suresh Rajak whose appointment is said to be under the scanner.
But the most important was that alleged audio conversations of the kickbacks for the appointment must be investigated by the CBI.
BJP MLA Dinesh Oraon was elected as Speaker on 7 January 2015 and served till 24 December 2019. But strangely, the office of the Speaker sat upon such an important direction of the Governor who under the constitution is the executive as well as constitutional head of the state and the assembly.
In the name of taking action, Dinesh Oraon gave compulsory retirement to two joint secretary rank officials namely Ravindra Kumar Singh and Ram Sagar.
After the regime change when the BJP lost assembly elections in Jharkhand, Rabindra Nath Mahto of the JMM assumed the charge of the Speaker. But that letter of the Governor was conveniently hushed-up.
During the regime of Speaker Shashank Shekhar Bhokta (25 July 2013- 23 December 2014) half of them were given promotions. 75 out of 150 are currently working as the Section officers.
Even assembly officials were not aware that the then Jharkhand Governor had directed the CBI inquiry. The BJP and the JMM-led UPA ally may accuse each other of corruption but this is a classic case of the silence of the BJP and the UPA to an extent of ignoring the instruction of the Governor. Similar accusations were made against Inder Singh Namdhari for misusing his position as Speaker to make illegal appointments.
“The illegal appointments and their validation have become a source of corruption in the Jharkhand assembly. I have filed a PIL in this regard. It is very serious that the instruction of the Governor for a CBI probe was ignored,” said Jharkhand High Court lawyer Rajeev Kumar.
