New Delhi: An IAS officer and the joint director of Maharashtra’s pollution control body were suspended for allegedly skipping a meeting convened by the state’s Environment minister, Pankaja Munde.
Devendra Singh, a 2011-batch IAS officer who is also the member secretary of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), and Satish Padval, Joint Director of the MPCB, allegedly failed to attend a meeting called by Munde to gather information on pollution in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district.
During an Assembly session on February 26, when Munde was asked to respond to the pollution crisis in the district, she could not give a detailed briefing, saying the two MPCB officials did not show up at the meeting she had called on the issue despite multiple reminders. She also told the house that the IAS officer had sent a message saying he would not attend.
Taking note of this, Pro-tem Speaker Dilip Lande suspended the IAS officer and the other MPCB official, describing their absence as “gross negligence” and “disrespect towards the people of Maharashtra who are represented in the legislature by elected representatives”.
Defending his decision, Lande said, “It doesn’t matter that I was merely a pro-tem Speaker. I was in the chair, and action was taken for not respecting the orders of a minister and not doing one’s duty.”
The action against the two officials raised eyebrows in political circles as the MPCB is headed by Siddhesh Kadam, a leader of the Shiv Sena, a ruling ally, though it functions under the environment department led by Munde.