10 ‘corrupt’ BMC officials in line for promotion instead of penalty

At least ten civic officials, who were found guilty in various scams, are set to be promoted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The concerned officials have been included in the list of 55 individuals that the municipal corporation has proposed to promote from the rank of an assistant engineer to executive engineer.

“These officials have been named in various scams and proven guilty and were involved in malpractices that caused losses to the corporation. For example, an official who was proven guilty and even awarded punishment for stopping five increments in the e-tendering scam has found a place in the promotion list. This is nothing but encouraging officials to engage in corrupt practices,” a BMC official told The Indian Express.

“A government resolution (GR) issued by the state government in 2017 states that if any officer is awarded punishment then she/he is not entitled for promotion till the punishment is over,” he added.

Of the ten officials, three were involved in the e-tendering scam, two in road scam and the remaining ones were proven guilty in other corruption-related cases.

The BMC had indicted 63 officials and held 100 others guilty in the Rs 100 crore e-tendering scam, which came to light recently.

Meanwhile, a senior official responsible for handling promotions rubbished claims of any foul play and stated that the list was prepared with due process of law.

“The punishment of officials indicted in e-tendering scam will start from June, so it is not going to affect the promotion. Even the state government’s GR states that the promotion is stopped only if an indicted officer has started serving punishment before approval of promotion,” he told the daily.

Reacting to the development, Ravi Raja, Opposition leader in the BMC, said that he would take up the matter with the civic chief as the decision to promote tainted officials instead of making an example out of them will set a wrong precedent.