Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya on Thursday defended a junior official and found fault with a senior IAS officer for his “high handedness”.
Speaking to reporters here, Anjaneya came to the defence of Kalaburagi social welfare officer Vijayalakshmi Kob-alkar, against whom there is a criminal complaint.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who was apprised about Kobalkar’s alleged misuse of office during the meeting of regional commissioners and deputy commissioners recently, had directed Anjaneya to suspend her.
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However Anjaneya said that he chose not to suspend the official, as she was not at fault. He instead attacked Kalaburagi Regional Commissioner Aditya Amlan Biswas, who had ordered for a FIR to be lodged against Vijayalakshmi two to three months ago on charges that she had violated tender norms.
“Vijayalakshmi is innocent - she is not at fault. Biswas should have first served her a notice and asked the department concerned to look into the matter. His action is arbitrary in nature. He is busy trying to project himself as an honest and able administrator, which is not right,” he said.
When asked why the official had not been suspended even after Siddaramaiah’s directions, he said that a person could not be hanged just because he/she was accused.
He said that he had sent a team of officials to Kalaburagi to inquire into the matter.
“She will be served a notice, and action will be taken if she is proven guilty. Until then she will not be suspended. Also, she alone cannot be blamed. The role of other employees like the clerk, manager and taluk social welfare officer too should be looked into,” he said.
Anjaneya put the blame for the delay in finalising the socio-economic survey report on teachers of private and unaided schools in Bengaluru.
He said the teachers had failed to upload the data on the internet, causing the delay. He said that he would soon call a meeting in this regard. The report will be released soon.
