STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Joint Secretary to the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has informed ANS (Amguri Nabanirman Samity) that the allegation of embezzlement of funds from various schemes under the Directorate of Welfare of Scheduled Caste, Assam, is under the ‘consideration’ of the committee of senior officers. The irony is that even as the Gauhati High Court had asked the Chief Secretary of the State Government on September 1, 2021, to form a committee of senior officers to look into allegations of embezzlement of funds, and the Chief Secretary had formed the committee on November 23, 2021, following the direction of the High Court, the department informed the petitioner (ANS) of this in August 2023, after a gap of around two years.
ANS president Diganta Saikia said, “Even as the High Court ordered the formation of a committee of senior officers on September 1, 2021, to look into the allegation of embezzlement of funds of various schemes under the Directorate of Welfare of Scheduled Caste after hearing our PIL (50/2021), we were in the dark about the development of the case till recently as the State government kept the issue undisclosed. That led us to lodge a complaint before the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) seeking an investigation into the allegation of fund embezzlement. Only after receiving a missive from the PMO, the State Government informed us that the allegation of embezzlement of funds is under the consideration of the committee.”
According to the ANS, the embezzlement of funds in the name of the implementation of various schemes took place from September 1, 2013 to March 31, 2021.
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