Pune: An inquiry committee last week confirmed irregularities in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) accounts department over clearance of bills worth Rs60 crore on March 30 this year. Now, the civic body’s chief accounts officer and director of finance Pravin Jain has sought to shift responsibility onto officials from the respective departments, for whose works the bills were cleared in the first place.Jain, who was sent on compulsory leave after the probe was initiated, has written to the civic body’s vigilance department chief, who was also a member of the inquiry committee formed to investigate the alleged irregularities. He has stated that the junior engineers, deputy engineers, assistant accountants, accountants, accounts officers, executive engineers, assistant city engineers, city engineers and heads of departments concerned should all be held accountable, as they should not have allowed bills to be prepared without approval of supplementary proposals by the standing committee or general body.Further, Jain said that the accounts department’s role is limited to that of a drawing and disbursing authority and that its officers were being unfairly blamed. In his letter to the vigilance department on Friday, he stated: “It is mandatory for the HoD concerned to verify that all approvals and procedures have been completed before signing bills for payment. Department heads cannot evade this responsibility. If the sub proposals were not valid, the HoDs should not have allowed the bills to be prepared. Had the bills not been prepared, they would never have reached the accounts department for payment.”The inquiry committee, in its preliminary report submitted to the municipal commissioner on April 21, confirmed that rules were violated while clearing contractor bills worth Rs60 crore in a single day on March 30.While civic officials have not revealed whether Jain will face action, standing committee chairman Abhishek Barne, who had raised the issue, said recommendations for appropriate action would be sent to state govt after the final probe report is received, likely within 10 days. Barne said the civic body cannot directly act against Jain as he is a state govt officer, and any proposal for disciplinary action must be forwarded to state govt.Last Friday, Pimpri Chinchwad mayor Ravi Landge had told reporters that an FIR should be registered against Jain, warning that elected representatives would approach the police if PCMC failed to initiate legal action in this matter. “The preliminary report has confirmed that Jain is guilty hence, legal action must be initiated against him. If he acted on someone’s instructions, he must reveal those names,” Landge said.PCMC commissioner Vijay Suryawanshi did not respond to TOI’s calls and messages for comment till the time of going to press.
