After sitting on the file for over a year, the state government has appointed senior bureaucrat Minnie Mathew as inquiry officer of the probe into the alleged irregularities committed by bureaucrat Navin Mittal during his stint as Hyderabad collector. The government had kept the inquiry under wraps what with the General Administration Department issuing the GO Rt 1098 under the “confidential” category on Monday. The official GO website do not display orders once placed in this category.
The inquiry officer has been asked to submit a report within a month. The government has also directed the Hyderabad collector, Mr Gulzar, who was instrumental in digging out the irregularities during Mr Mittal’s period, to assist Ms Mathew in the inquiry. Ironically, the government’s decision to conduct a fresh probe on Mr Mittal cast a shadow, though indirectly, on chief secretary Mr Pankaj Dwivedi.
Sources told this newspaper that Mr Dwivedi had already held an inquiry when he was the chief commissioner of land administration and had submitted a report. “The report was inconclusive and the government could not frame charges leave alone take disciplinary action,” highly placed sources said, adding that Chief Minister had thus decided to order a fresh probe.
Mr Dwivedi is said to have looked into the allegations but did not conclude that the officer was at fault. In some cases, he had merely mentioned that the case was in the purview of the Lokayukta. It was then up to the CM to decide on whether to proceed with further action. Mr Mittal, who is now special commissioner of GHMC, is facing allegations of misusing his power to benefit particular parties in civil disputes and in some cases even compromising the state’s interests.