Ranchi, Sept. 8: The Assembly secretariat today released the minutes of the inquiry proceedings against a former Palamau deputy commissioner, who is facing charges of financial irregularities.

The proceedings highlight how the IAS officer, Pradeep Kumar, now deputy commissioner of Ranchi, bent the rules and took recourse to the decision of a meeting that never took place.

The minutes also include the depositions of his seniors in Ranchi — then welfare secretary U.K. Sangma and now the chief minister’s principal secretary, and rural development secretary U.P. Singh. Singh went as far as to plead “mercy” for Kumar since he had “already apologised”.

The matter concerns the diversion of crores of rupees meant for special schemes under the welfare department to the rural engineering organisation and utilising it for unmarked projects. After legislator Manoj Kumar brought the issue to light in May 2002, Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari handed it over to the estimates committee for probe. The committee submitted its preliminary report in December 2002, recommending strong action against the officials.

After this, another meeting was held in February 25, 2003, to discuss the recommendations. Kumar initially said the necessary meeting for the use of the earmarked money was held on March 29, 2001, but it soon became clear that the deputy commissioner had started making the payments for the construction of ponds and other irrigation schemes in February itself.

It also became clear that the meeting was never held because those officials who reportedly attended it said the issue of the special scheme was not taken up. The committee found that the officials who attended the meeting were made to sign on blank spaces and the paper was later passed on as the minutes of the meeting.

When the committee asked Sangma about the irregularities, he said the file that came to him did not indicate diversion of funds. “It was the duty of the welfare secretary to see if the money was not being misused as per the guidelines of the department. You should have examined the matter technically and then given an opinion,” Namdhari told Sangma.

The then Palamau deputy development commissioner and manager of the lead bank there told the probe committee that the meeting never took place and the deputy commissioner had diverted the funds on his own. Moreover, once it became clear that an inquiry could follow because of the “cover up meeting”, Rs 80 lakh, which had already been released, was recalled. Kumar repeatedly apologised before the committee.

After this, U.P. Singh told the Speaker: “If someone commits a mistake and admits it, it is so much better. One has to judge whether the intention behind the diversion was mala fide or bona fide. There are several categories of punishment, including mercy appeal. The officer should either be warned or censured. Confession washes off many sins. He (Kumar) has worked under me.”

In its latest recommendations, the estimates committee has suggested that the other officers involved in the matter should be exempt from punishment. Kumar’s fate is still to be decided.