Mumbai: The proposal to fine the retired chief accountant of BMC, Mangala Kadam, Rs 1,000 for her failure to conduct an inquiry into a case involving theft of 626 scrap meters from the corporation’s workshop during her tenure, was amended at the standing committee meeting held on Wednesday.
Earlier, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta had said she would be fined Rs 1,000 and the amount was to be deducted from her pension and a proposal would be tabled at Wednesday’s standing committee meeting for approval.
However, Shiv Sena councillor and leader of the civic general body, Vishakha Raut, said at the meeting that the amount of the fine — Rs 1,000 — was very low and it should be increased to Rs 25 lakh for her misconduct. Accordingly a proposal to this effect was approved at the meeting and, now, the civic administration must decide on the matter. According to BMC officials, the meters were stolen on January 27, 2016, from the workshop.
But till October 1, 2016, the date of Kadam’s retirement, she failed to conduct a probe, as she had been instructed. She kept it pending, without filing a charge sheet in the case.The related documents too continued to be in Kadam’s possession, even after her retirement.
The officials said since she had shown negligence in duty, by an order of the additional municipal commissioner (projects), on September 8, 2017, she was served a memo, asking her to file a charge sheet in the theft case. Though she was repeatedly asked for an explanation for the delay, she failed to reply to letters and notes on the order of senior officials and kept the documents related to the case in her possession.
