Bhubaneswar: The state government Wednesday dismissed senior IAS officer and former Managing Director of Odisha Rural Housing & Development Corporation (ORHDC) Vinod Kumar from his services after he was found guilty on corruption charges framed against him.
According to Odisha Chief Ministers’ Office (CMO) sources, an order has been issued in this regard by the state government following the Central government’s approval. The 1989-batch IAS officer Kumar was convicted over the charges of corruption and misappropriation conducted during his tenure in ORHDC, the CMO sources added.
Following the Super Cyclone in 1999, Kumar during his tenure as the MD of ORHDC had fraudulently extended loans amounting to Rs 33.34 crore to fake private firms and individuals without adhering to prescribed guidelines for which the government incurred huge loss.
Subsequently, the government had filed as many as 27 Vigilance cases against Kumar and he has been convicted in two of those.
Also read: Odisha registers 3,450 new Covid-19 cases; 19 more fatalities
“Vinod Kumar has been dismissed from service after the corruption allegations were proved against him. The Centre has given its nod to the state government’s proposal to dismiss him. The government has always taken strict action against corrupt officials, no matter whatever higher positions they may hold. The state government is committed to exemplary action against wrongdoers,” a CMO statement read.
Notably, the Special Vigilance Judge, Bhubaneswar found Kumar and five others guilty in connection with the scam which ran into crores of rupees and awarded them rigorous imprisonment of three years.
In one of the two cases in which he was summoned by the court, he was facing criminal conspiracy with other corrupt officials and a realtor named Jagannath Rath of Puri to whom he sanctioned 46.9 lakh in guise of 19 individual loans without proper scrutiny during 2000-01.
Kumar also conspired with Niranjan Parida of Gajanan Properties and sanctioned Rs 41.26 lakh on pretext of loans to 12 individuals.
PNN