Maha govt appoints two officials to same post in goof-up

In a major goof-up, Maharashtra Government has appointed two senior officials to the top post in Excise Department, raising questions over coordination among various concerned departments.

The state government issued orders for appointment of senior Excise officer Prasad Surve and then Osmanabad SP Datta Karale, as Director Vigilance in the state Excise department, all within a span of five days.

While Surve's orders were issued on June 8, Karale's orders were issued on June 13, Home Department sources said. When Karale went to take charge, he was informed that Surve had already assumed office a couple of days earlier.

In the process, the Government has also done away with the convention of having a police officer to head the sensitive vigilance wing in the Excise department, sources said.

Senior police officers head vigilance posts in government departments like MHADA, state electricity board, RTO, Sales Tax, MSRTC, Legal Metrology, FDA, and Cotton Federation, the sources said. Same was the case with Excise Department, before Surve was appointed, they added.

As per the convention, the vigilance cell heads of the Excise Department should be an SP or DCP level police officer, sources said. In this case, the convention has been violated, they added.

However, in Surve's case, within a few days, he was promoted and posted as vigilance chief.