Rajendra Kishore Panda

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 3: Renowned poet and former IAS officer Rajendra Kishore Panda is in the midst of a controversy for accepting honorarium-cum-allowance from the Seashore Group, a money circulation deposit company, in his capacity as president of Seashore Sahitya Academy.

Panda was paid a monthly honorarium-cum-allowance of Rs 63,000 during his nine-month tenure at the academy in 2010. Following criticism, the 70-year-old Panda posted a letter explaining his stand on a social networking site. While he asserted that he had done nothing wrong, Panda also targeted the state government on the issue.

Panda said before joining the group he had checked its credentials and found that the Odisha government and Seashore Group had collaborative ventures.

State’s literary fraternity has come out in support of both Panda and eminent writer Manoj Das, denouncing the attempt to belittle them.

“It is mandatory for the government to check the antecedents, current activities and capabilities of an organisation before extending such support or collaboration, Hence, I did not doubt Seashore Group’s credentials and agreed to join,” he said.

Nearly hundred people supported his stance on the social networking site.

The 1967 batch IAS officer, a former member of Board of Revenue and a Sahitya Akademi awardee, has authored at least 16 books of poetry. He executed multiple literary programmes for the Seashore Group and provided a literary platform to a large number of writers.

Panda said though he had a three-year contract with Seashore, he resigned just nine months after taking up the job because of differences with the group chief, Prashant Dash, who is now in jail.

One of the reasons for differences was the conferment of “Sudramani” award on eminent writer Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo. While the apex committee led by him had zeroed down on Sahoo, Das had other views. However, finally the award went in favour of Sahoo.

On the issue of returning the money he had earned from the group as done by Manoj Das, Panda said it was not necessary. “Receipt of honorarium-cum-allowance being a part of the contractual appointment by an appointee, who performed his duties conscientiously, is, by itself, not a “crime” and if it is a “crime”, the act of such crediting does not make it a non-crime,” he said in his post.

On the issue of Das donating money to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, he said the eminent author had done so because he was over sensitive and deeply hurt by the unmerited criticism.

“I am also hurt by the insinuations but perhaps my endurance level is strong,” he said.

Both the literary figures have received support from a major section of writers.

“Manoj babu should not have returned the money. He had not done anything wrong. As a writer, we used to write and edit a number of magazines for various publications,” said eminent novelist Bibhuti Patnaik.

In his view, the government should return the money to Das. “I used to get money for writing my biography in one of the Seashore Group’s magazines,” he added.

Das had worked as an advisor to Seashore’s Publication house apart from contributing articles for its two magazines. The company paid him a monthly honorarium of Rs 1 lakh amounting to a total of Rs 10 lakh. Sahitya Akademi awardee Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo said: “Everyone knows who Manoj Das is. He is known for his honesty, integrity and service to the cause of the Odia literature. He should not be demeaned.”

Former vice-chancellor of Ravenshaw University Devdas Chhotray said: “I have great regard for Manoj babu. I can’t believe he would do anything wrong.”

The government is still in a quandary over the cheque that it has received from Das. Though a week had passed it is yet to decide whether to accept or return Das’s donation of Rs 10.45 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.