In its bid to curb corruption and inefficiency across the departments at the instance of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the State Government on Friday ordered compulsory retirement of as many as eight officials, including former Nimapada Tehsildar Rama Chandra Jena, who was recently arrested on the charge of acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Jena was earlier suspended from service after he was found in possession of over Rs 5 lakh in cash and five PAN cards during a Vigilance raid on November 2.
The Government gave him compulsory retirement after suspending him over three graft charges.
Similarly, OAS officer and former Jagatsinghpur Deputy Collector Gourang Charan Mohanty was given forced retirement for corruption. He is accused of embezzling Government funds.
Other officials who were given compulsory retirement included OAS officer Alphonse Bilung, former Superintending Engineer (Irrigation) Bidhan Chandra Sahoo, Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) CDPO Meena Patra, ICDS CDPO Puspanajali Rath, former Deputy Excise Superintendent Ajit Kumar Mohapatra and Tihidi block Cashier Prabhakar Pradhan.
With this, a total of 130 officials have been given compulsory retirement in the State so far over charges of graft and dereliction of duty.