Bhattacharya lays the foundation stone. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, Aug. 5: Municipal affairs and urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya today said the government would file cases against Pemba Tshering Ola and the State Bank of India for “defalcation of government funds”.

Ola, the former chairman of Darjeeling Municipality, has been accused of withdrawing money without authority from the government exchequer. The bank, the minister said, was liable, as it had cleared the cheques.

“The chairman is no longer authorised to withdraw money from the government exchequer, whatever the reason may be. The bank concerned, knew that the boards of the three hill municipalities have been dissolved, yet paid the money which is why it is liable,” said Bhattacharya after laying the foundation stone of the Siliguri Journalist Club building outside Kanchenjungha Stadium this afternoon. “We consider this defalcation of government funds and will file cases against them soon. We are going through the report sent by the district magistrate.”

When pointed out that the bank had not been given any instructions on how to deal with cheques signed by Ola, the minister said: “A government notification was issued and it is for everybody. The banks should have cross-checked and acted more responsibly. When a board is dissolved, even under normal circumstances before an election, a disbursing officer is appointed and from then on the civic chairmen have no authority. The banks know about the process. In this case, the SDOs were the disbursing authorities.”

After the municipal boards at Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling were dissolved, the government appointed four-member committees headed by the SDOs of the respective subdivisions in which the civic bodies are located. The other members in the committee are the former chairmen and vice-chairmen of the civic bodies and a member of the directorates of the local bodies.

The manager of the SBI, Darjeeling branch, has refused to speak but sources said the bank had not received any instruction from the administration about signatures on cheques.

Accusing the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha of hampering development work in the hill towns, the minister said: “It is because of the Morcha that elections could not be held and the municipalities cannot function normally. But we would like to iterate that the government is ready to hold civic elections in two months, that is, by October and November, if the situation permits us.”

Surendra Gupta, the district magistrate of Darjeeling, today said it would be up to the municipal affairs department to decide on the action on the funds withdrawal. “Our officers (SDOs) were designated as authorised signatories. We noticed an anomaly and sent a report to the state government,” he said. “Now it is up to the department concerned to take action.”

Throwing a challenge to the government, Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha, said over the phone: “If the government wants to, it will complicate the issue further, it can go ahead and file such cases. We are against appointment of civil servants, who have less knowledge of the land than elected representatives.”

In Calcutta, the chief minister’s office received a letter from the chairpersons of the hill municipalities stating that they did not want the subdivisional officers to be in charge of the civic bodies. Sources the government is yet to reply.