JOIN US Two days after ‘tainted’ Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) official M R Hiremath resumed duty and a day after he went on leave, the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) on Wednesday issued an order suspending him from duty.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Deputy Secretary, DPAR, Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh said: “Hiremath has been deemed suspended following his judicial custody for more than 48 hours. Today, we have issued his suspension order.”
On November 24, Hiremath had resumed duty after obtaining bail in a Lokayukta trap case, despite being in judicial custody for more than a week.
According to the Section 10 (2) (a) of Karnataka Civil Services (Classifications, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1957: “A government servant shall be deemed to have been placed under suspension by an order of appointing authority - with effect from the date of his detention - if he is detained in custody, whether on a criminal charge or otherwise, for a period exceeding 48 hours.”
Surprisingly, despite having legal grounds to suspend Hiremath soon after his arrest, the DPAR delayed the orders by more than 10 days.
Hiremath, special land acquisition officer (deputy commissioner), was trapped by the Lokayukta for allegedly demanding and recieving a bribe of Rs five lakh on November 16.
The amount was said to be the first instalment of the Rs 20 lakh-bribe Hiremath had allegedly demanded from a farmer for the denotification of one acre and 16 guntas of land in Thanisandra.