Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has recommended action against IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai for allegedly accepting Rs 50 lakh bribe to grant “undue favours” to an executive engineer in two corruption cases.
Rai, a 2007 batch AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories) cadre officer, is currently posted as a special secretary in the health and family welfare department of the Delhi Government.
Sources in the Raj Niwas said the Lieutenant Governor has made this recommendation to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the basis of a substantiated recommendation made by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Udit Prakash allegedly took a bribe of Rs 50 lakh for extending “undue favours” to Executive Engineer PS Meena in Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board (DAMB), by diluting punishment against him in two cases of corruption. One JS Sharma on February 10, 2020, had lodged a complaint with MHA against Rai.
“Udit Prakash, who was then the Vice Chairman of DAMB, virtually let off the charged engineer PS Meena in two disproportionate asset cases - one involving Meena’s son and the other involving his wife,” sources said.
In the first case, the inquiry report submitted by a retired IAS officer on January 29, 2021, had recommended “major penalty and dismissal from service” against Meena, as per the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) guidelines. “What’s appalling is that Udit Prakash issued the 'censure' in 'unreasonable haste' on the last day of his posting as VC, DAMB, even as his transfer orders to DSFMC had been issued on February 24, 2021,” sources said.
“PS Meena had also submitted his reply the same day, that is on February 24, 2021. Further, the punishment of censure was also not dispatched to the persons and officials to whom it was endorsed which resulted in the same not even being mentioned in the service book of PS Meena,” they said.
“In the second case of disproportionate asset involving Meena’s wife, an inquiry was ordered by the earlier VC of DAMB, but Udit Prakash, without conducting any inquiry in this case, ordered “punishment of censure” against Meena clubbing it with the first case and noted that the “two cases were similar”. Prakash did not even issue a formal order in this case separately,” they informed.
“The CBI has also recorded these “deliberate lapses” by Udit Prakash in a letter written to the then Chief Secretary Vijay Dev on October 15, 2021,” sources said.
“Udit Prakash, a blue eyed boy of AAP Government, indulged in this act as VC of DAMB and has since been holding important position including that of the Managing Director of DSFMC after DAMB and later as CEO of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) where he worked with Raghav Chaddha,” they said.
“Finding these “deliberate lapses” and “undue favours” a fit case of corruption, the LG has recommended the MHA to take necessary action against Udit Prakash. The LG has also authorized the Chief Secretary for setting-aside the “punishment of censure” in these cases against Meena and ensure appropriate punishment,” the sources further added.