Patna, Aug. 24: Suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Shiva Shanker Verma’s obsession with his house is so intense that he now wants to stay in it even on rent. Verma’s property is likely to be confiscated by the Patna district administration on the directive of the special vigilance court.
Verma, a 1987 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, submitted a petition to the Patna district magistrate on August 21 requesting the former to allow him to stay in the house on rent. The petition was submitted within two days of the Patna High Court’s order dismissing stay on confiscation of his property.
“As I have no other house in Patna to reside I may be allowed to stay in the same house. I have been living in the house for the past over 10 years. I am ready to pay the rent fixed by the authority concerned,” Verma’s petition said.
Verma’s obsession can be gauged from the fact that he has offered to pay the price of the entire property on market price. He has also offered to pay the price for furniture, car, TV, refrigerator and utensils. The house is located at Rukunpura on Bailey Road in Patna.
The Patna district magistrate has referred the petition to the vigilance court, which had earlier issued the confiscation order. The matter will be taken up tomorrow.
Earlier, Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh had served a notice on April 27 this year, asking the IAS officer to vacate the house and hand over its possession. Verma had received the notice on April 30.
In the meantime, Verma moved the high court seeking stay on the confiscation order, which was issued under the Bihar Special Courts Act 2009. Within a few hours of the high court’s order, the state government issued a direction to the Patna DM asking to proceed with the confiscation so that Verma’s house could be used as a school.
Special vigilance unit (SVU) sleuths had recovered Rs 16.19 lakh, 1kg gold bar with Swiss hallmark, 800 guineas and other ornaments worth Rs 81 lakh. The bureau team had also seized Rs 2.58 lakh from his bank locker.
The SVU has accumulated Verma’s property worth Rs 1.44 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income. However, no chargesheet has been submitted against Verma in absence of prosecution sanction.
Verma’s confiscated house in Patna will be the first one to be transformed into a school. During his election campaign last year, chief minister Nitish Kumar had promised that buildings of corrupt officials would be taken over and transformed into schools children of downtrodden classes. Now, the court has directed the Patna district magistrate to complete the process of confiscation of disproportionate assets of Verma, his wife Usha, father Ram Pal, father-in-law Shyam Lal Singh, brothers-in-law Chandra Pal Singh and Krishna Pal Singh and two other relatives, Suman Verma and Upendra Prasad Singh within a month.
Verma was posted as minor irrigation department secretary when SVU sleuths raided his residence and subsequently lodged a disproportionate assets case.
