The villagers of Bommanahalli near Bengaluru promptly paid the taxes for their houses, little realising that a part of it was being pocketed by a clerk who was entrusted to collect their taxes in 2002.
The shortage in the tax collected from villagers raised doubts and the directorate of municipal administration had issued show-cause notices to clerk B. Rajeshwari. She was found guilty of misappropriation of funds and punished with compulsory retirement.
The High Court, while hearing her case recently, confirmed her punishment considering the nature of work entrusted to her and that she had chosen not to remit the public money for about two years.
Soon after being handed down the punishment in 2005, Rajeshwari filed an appeal before secretary to the urban development department, who rejected her appeal. Thereafter, she approached the high court, wherein a single judge also rejected her plea on the ground that she was found guilty of misappropriating public money to the tune of Rs 36,107 and the punishment imposed on her did not warrant any interference.
She again filed an appeal challenging the single judge order on the ground that the punishment imposed by the BBMP is disproportionate to the proved misconduct and she is entitled for a lenient punishment!
According to the BBMP joint commissioner, the clerk misappropriated tax remittance to the tune of Rs 1,08,603 of which the clerk only deposited Rs 72,496, and hence she was found guilty. The collected tax should have been deposited with the manager concerned on the same day or, at best, next day, but she chose neither and pocketed the villagers’ money.
The advocate for the directorate of municipal administration and BBMP submitted before the court that for about two years, the clerk did not remit the balance amount of Rs 36,107 collected by her from the residents of Bommanahalli. She has not shown sufficient cause for not remitting the amount immediately after collecting the amount from the villagers.