As per NMC, retired Deputy Director of Health Services Dr Milind Ganvir allegedly made excess payments to former private garbage operator Kanak Resources Management Limited (KRML)
Nagpur: Acting tough, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), in the first such action, has ordered recovery of Rs 11.58 crore from retired Deputy Director of Health Services Dr Milind Ganvir for allegedly making excess payments to former private garbage operator Kanak Resources Management Limited (KRML). The recovery is many times higher than the salary received by the officer during his 21 years service in the civic body, said a report in a local English daily.
The report said that the order came to fore only after NMC’s Solid Waste Management Department wrote to the inquiry department about the status of the recovery a few days ago. The inquiry department had sought to find out the status of its order. Ganvir joined NMC in 1996 and retired on August 31, 2017. The recovery would amount to Rs 4.6 lakh per month of service over 21 years, the report said.
According to the report, a chargesheet was issued to Ganvir on September 25, 2017, which was after his retirement. The chargesheet alleged he allowed a hike in rate of KRML as per revision in quarterly Wholesale Price Index (WPI) despite provision being for annual increase in tender. Thus, excess payment made to KRML during its contract from April 2009 to November 2019 was worked out to around Rs 24 crore.
As per NMC officials, NMC could recover some amount by stopping KRML’s payments for a few months and forfeiting security deposit and bank guarantee. But Rs 11.58 crore was still due against KRML at the end of its tenure in November 2019. The departmental enquiry held Ganvir responsible for the excess payments. Therefore, an order was passed to recover Rs11.58 crore from Ganvir, and a letter was sent to him, NMC officials said.
The civic body had replaced KRML with two new operators from November 2019.
The retired officer has challenged the NMC order in Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court stating the order of arbitration was to recover the amount from KRML and nothing to do with him. On July 19, Justice A S Chandurkar and Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke issued notice to NMC and Municipal Commissioner. The High Court observed that the petitioner superannuated from service on August 31, 2017. The chargesheet was issued to him on September 25, 2017. The petitioner has relied upon Maharashtra Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1982, to urge that no sanction was obtained from the government prior to initiating the enquiry.
NMC officials said it is the highest recovery against any retired officer in the history of the civic body.
