Officer wins award for good governance, but caught for graft
Prashant Jha@timesgroup.com
Dehradun:28.01.2019
Hours after he was conferred the chief minister’s award for excellence and good governance in education on Republic Day, the Uttarakhand government removed Almora’s chief education officer (CEO) over corruption charges.
While Jagmohan Soni was accepting the award from Union minister Ajay Tamta and state cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat in a grand ceremony in Almora on Saturday, the orders to remove him were being typed in state capital Dehradun.
In fact, the state government deemed the matter so urgent that education secretary Bhupinder Kaur Aulakh was asked to come to office on Republic Day when all offices were closed and sign the letter sanctioning his removal. The officer has now been attached to the education directorate in Dehradun. Though the government order does not mention the reason for Soni’s removal, officials in the education department said he was accused of accepting bribes while hiring teachers in government-aided schools.
Talking to TOI, Soni confirmed that he had received orders of his removal but added that the allegations against him were not true. “I am aware of the allegations, but they are baseless. I was awarded for my contribution to the state’s education on the very same day I was removed from my post. This is absurd,” he said.
“Local residents had complained that some officials, including Soni, were demanding bribes ranging into lakhs of rupees to hire teachers,” an official told TOI on condition of anonymity.
Prashant Jha@timesgroup.com
Dehradun:28.01.2019
Hours after he was conferred the chief minister’s award for excellence and good governance in education on Republic Day, the Uttarakhand government removed Almora’s chief education officer (CEO) over corruption charges.
While Jagmohan Soni was accepting the award from Union minister Ajay Tamta and state cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat in a grand ceremony in Almora on Saturday, the orders to remove him were being typed in state capital Dehradun.
In fact, the state government deemed the matter so urgent that education secretary Bhupinder Kaur Aulakh was asked to come to office on Republic Day when all offices were closed and sign the letter sanctioning his removal. The officer has now been attached to the education directorate in Dehradun. Though the government order does not mention the reason for Soni’s removal, officials in the education department said he was accused of accepting bribes while hiring teachers in government-aided schools.
Talking to TOI, Soni confirmed that he had received orders of his removal but added that the allegations against him were not true. “I am aware of the allegations, but they are baseless. I was awarded for my contribution to the state’s education on the very same day I was removed from my post. This is absurd,” he said.
“Local residents had complained that some officials, including Soni, were demanding bribes ranging into lakhs of rupees to hire teachers,” an official told TOI on condition of anonymity.
No comments:
Post a Comment