Ironically, an officer of Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) has paid a big price for obeying an order of the Board of Revenue. He was suspended from service and his promotion was held up, according to sources.
Challenging the Government, the OAS officer approached the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) for justice, following which his suspension order has been revoked. The SAT has also directed the Government to promote him with retrospective effect.
Sources said the suspended lingaraj Temple Executive Officer Kelucharan Ransingh had received a letter from the Board of Revenue when he was the Tehsildar in Aska in 2009. He was directed to provide lease two sand ghats in favour of a particular applicant.
According to rules, a tehsildar is the ‘competent authority’ to sanction sand ghats or auction while the Board of Revenue normally headed by an officer of Chief Secretary or senior Additional Chief Secretary rank is the ‘controlling authority’.
Following the order from the Board of Revenue, Ransingh provided the lease to the applicant as per the rules. However, the Government suspended him and took disciplinary action against him for acting on the board’s order. He was also deprived of any promotion while his suspension period was counted as off days.
Challenging the Government action, Ransingh moved the SAT with a petition. A Bench of Judiciary Member Gyana Ranjan Purohit and Administrative Member SK Das directed the Government to reinstate him and give him promotion from the date his juniors have been promoted.
The tribunal also asked the Government to give him full salary from the date of suspension.
Notably, the letter dispatched from the Board of Revenue regarding sand ghat lease was sent by an officer of the Deputy Secretary rank without consent from senior officers.
Though the Government initiated action against Ransingh for leasing out a sand ghat without going through the auction process, other tehsildars who followed the same procedure had been spared.