The Jharkhand government has set up a ‘Commission of Inquiry’ under a high court retired chief justice to probe the allegations against former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Rajiv Arun Ekka for signing certain official documents at a private place.
A notification issued by the Department of Personnel, Administration and Rajbhasa on late Monday evening said that the “state government considers the issue to be of public importance necessitating a thorough, independent and impartial enquiry”.
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi had on March 4 released a 22-second video clip at the party headquarters here claiming Ekka “can be seen signing government files in the private office” of a power broker”.
Marandi also wrote to Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh seeking action against Ekka and departmental engineers.
The Jharkhand government, hours after the BJP’s allegations had removed Ekka from the post of principal secretary to the chief minister and transferred him to the Panchayati Raj department.
Later, the government posted senior IAS Officer Vandana Dadel as the principal secretary to the CM.
The notification said, “The government of Jharkhand appoints Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta (now retired), a former chief justice of Jharkhand High Court and also former chief justice of Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand High Court as a one member ‘Commission of Inquiry’ for the purpose of making an inquiry regarding all the issues and allegations pertaining to this matter.”
It further said that the commission will complete its inquiry within six months and submit a report containing, inter alia its conclusion, findings and recommendations to the government.
Earlier, the Bhartiya Janata Party on Monday sought a thorough probe into the conduct of the former principal secretary to the chief minister alleging that Ekka connived with power brokers and departmental engineers.
Marandi in his letter to the chief secretary had demanded a probe into the alleged involvement of a power broker besides an engineer in the Police Building Construction Corporation.
Marandi alleged that an engineer of the corporation was re-appointed on contract after retirement without any advertisement for the post. He demanded an FIR against erring officials.
Earlier on March 6 a nine-member delegation of the Jharkhand BJP had met Governor CP Radhakrishnan urging him to direct the state government to facilitate a CBI probe into charges of corruption against Rajiv Arun Ekka.
