Rohini flouted transparency Act in bag purchase: Inquiry

A government inquiry has found that IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri, during her stint as the deputy commissioner of Mysuru, violated the transparency law in procurement of cloth bags, leading to loss of crores of rupees of taxpayers money.

The inquiry was conducted by the Secretary of the Urban Development Department Ajay Nagabhushan M N following instructions from the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) on January 5, 2023.

The DPAR had forwarded a preliminary report by Housing Department Secretary J Ravishankar which listed five allegations against Rohini Sindhuri based on a complaint by KR Nagar MLA S R Mahesh and one Shailendra V Bhimarao.

According to the complaint, Rohini as then deputy commissioner, had cleared procurement of 14,71,458 cloth bags at a cost of Rs 52 per piece, though the same cloth bag was available for Rs 10 to Rs 13 in the market. She had spent a total of Rs 7.65 crore by bypassing the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act.

The report from the UDD Secretary found Rohini at fault on four counts.

She had not only failed to consider the exorbitant cost of the bags, but also violated the KTPP Act, spent funds meant for Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in violation of the programme guidelines, failing to get an endorsement for the action plan from the urban local bodies and also violating the government order which set Rs 5 crore limit to the financial powers of a deputy commissioner.

“According to the KTPP Act section 4 (H), the deputy commissioner could only purchase cloth from the Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation. However, the officer purchased bags (from the corporation). This is a violation of KTPP Act and Rules,” the report said.

The report noted that the local bodies were local governments and an approval from the councils of the respective bodies was not obtained during the procurement.

Further, the funds reserved for awareness (IEC) programmes under the Swacch Bharat Mission have to be spent according to the Union government’s rules. “However, there is no scope for purchase of bags under the funds. Action plans for IEC programmes need to be placed before the the SHPC (State High Powered Committee) for necessary approvals. However, the procedure was not followed in this case,” it said.

To a question, Urban Development Minister B A Basavaraj said, “We will follow the rules and take necessary action.” Rohini Sindhuri could not be reached for a comment.