Officials say violation of protocol
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 20: A piquant situation has developed in district Doda where District Development Council (DDC) Chairman and BJP leader Dhananter Singh Kotwal has shot off show cause notice to Additional District Development Commissioner (ADDC) Pran Singh, who happened to be CEO of the DDC.
He has also written a letter to DC Doda Vishesh Pal Mahajan with copies to the Chief Secretary and other senior officers.
In his show cause notice to the Additional DDC Doda, Kotwal has charged him with undermining the DDC and assuming powers and functions of the DDC in connivance with other district officers.
“The DDC has been kept in complete dark and isolation while formulating current year’s CAPEX Plan as the Council has not been taken into confidence for priority of works,” the DDC Chairman said in his show cause notice.
He charged the ADDC with failure to maintain Minute Book in utter disregard and violation of the Panchayati Raj Act.
“You were asked to convene meeting and submit record of proceedings of the meeting to which you even didn’t respond. Later, the record submitted by you was manipulated and had discrepancies between recorded information and actual proceedings,” Kotwal said in show cause notice addressed to the ADDC.
He alleged that the record was altered to present fabricated account of decision taken and is more bunch of allegations against the Chairman and Council members than record of the meetings.
Kotwal strongly appreciated Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for strengthening the Panchayati Raj Institutions after abrogation of Articles 370 and 35-A but said the bureaucracy is sabotaging his efforts.
“It has been observed that conduct of the CEO and other officers is not just in breach of Panchayati Raj Act and mandatory provisions contained therein but also amounts to undermining the duly elected District Development Council,” Kotwal said in his letter to the DC Doda.
Officials, however, maintained that the DDC Chairman has no powers to issue show cause notice to Additional DDC.
“Issuance of show cause notice is in violation of protocol,” they said, adding the works have been prioritized based upon resolutions passed by the DDC, BDCs in writing.
They said the works are being done strictly as per the set guidelines and there is no violation of norms.
They added that complete transparency is being maintained in execution of works.
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