Kalinga Bikash Manch president Deepak Kumar Mahanta on Friday alleged irregularities of crores of rupees committed at the Swami Vivekananda National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research (SVNIRTAR), Oltapur in Cuttack district.
Addressing a Press meet here, Mahanta said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has revealed this in its report, which was accessed by him through the RTI Act.
Mahanta said the CAG has mentioned that as many as irregularities have been committed in 18 transactions of the SVNIRTAR during the 2018-19 Financial Year. Massive fund bungling committed in purchase of CAD CAM system for the Department of Prosthetics and Orthotics (DPO) worth Rs 2, 69, 80,000 and selection of post of Staff Nurse and Junior Assistants.
The report said as per the Bye Laws of the institution, the Purchase Committee should include the Deputy Director (Technical), Deputy Director (Admin), Head of Divisions and the Account Officer. But in violation, technical and evaluation committees were formed without the HoD of the DPO for which the equipment was purchased. The report also said that the approval for the formation of above committees was also not obtained from the Executive Council of the institution.
Mahanta also mentioned that as per the terms and conditions of the supply of the machine, the supplier was to give training on the machine at its own cost at France for which three staffs were to be nominated. But the Director nominated Demonstrators AN Nanda and N Ojha and Administrative Officer RR Sethy, who is no way concerned about running and handling the machine, which has been installed in the DPO.
The HOD and other staffs were overlooked and Sethy was selected. The justification of Sethy’s selection was not given by the Director, he further said.
Mahanta also alleged that irregularities were committed in the selection process for the post of Staff Nurse and Junior Assistants. Mahanta said as per the Bye-Law, the selection committee for recruitment of Group-B, C and D posts must include Director as Chairman, Deputy Director (Technical) as member, Deputy Director (Adminstration) as Member Secretary and one outside expert nominated by the Director as member.
As the Deputy Director (Technical) and Deputy Director (Admin) post were lying vacant since July 5, 2011 and August 1, 2011, respectively, a list of seven senior officers was forwarded to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. But before receiving any order from the Ministry, the Director constituted the Selection Board consisting Director Dr Sakti Prasad Das, Associate Professor (PT) Dr Patitapaban Mohanty, Associate Professor (PMR) Dr Pabitra Kumar Sahoo as members and AO RR Sethy as outside nominated member, which is against the law of the institute.
The Director also constituted the committee by selecting the officers of the institute before receiving any communication from the Ministry and completed the selection process which is not in order and justified, he said.
The CAG report also said that the reply of the institution is awaited.
Mahanta demanded that a proper probe is conducted and action against the Director for the irregularities.