Business class tickets, luxe five-star hotel rooms and unaccounted expenditure — an audit has revealed shocking irregularities by three senior IAS officers who travelled to France on an official trip in 2015, raising questions about the misuse of public money.

The three bureaucrats are Vijay Dev, then adviser to the Chandigarh administrator, Anurag Agarwal, then Chandigarh home secretary and Vikram Dev Dutt, then secretary (personnel). At the time, former Punjab Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki was holding additional charge of Chandigarh.

The Trip

In 2015, the Chandigarh administration received an invitation from Foundation Le Corbusier in Paris for a meeting to mark the 50th Anniversary of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, who prepared the master plan for Chandigarh. The administration nominated four participants for the event. The Home Ministry’s clearance was sought for Vijay Dev, Vikram Dev Dutt and Anurag Agarwal. The tour programme was drawn up and approved. It turned out that the officers sanctioned each other’s tours – Mr Dev’s trip was approved by Mr Dutt and Mr Dutt’s by Mr Dev. Mr Dev also approved the programme of Mr Agarwal.

The report by Director General of Audit (Central), Chandigarh, says the invitation was originally meant for one officer – the Chief Architect of Chandigarh — but three secretary-level officers went instead, that too at the cost of the taxpayer. The trip, the report noted, was not sponsored by the host foundation and all expenses were paid by the Chandigarh administration. The officers, it said, also bypassed the rule that no foreign travel exceeding five days should be approved without a nod from a screening committee. This trip was for seven days. One point highlighted in the audit report is how the officers, without any approval, expanded a one-day tour to seven days. 

The Cost

For each of the three officers, business class tickets cost Rs 1.77 lakh. The audit reports states that hotels were changed too. “Initially, the Intercontinental Hotel Paris Avenue was booked from 12 June, 2015 to 18 june, 2015 (07 days) for Rs. 4,39,168 in r/o Advisor to the Administrator UT, Chandigarh and Rs. 3,42,954 in r/o Secretary Personnel-cum- Secretary Urban Planning and Home Secretary-cum-Secretary Tourism. Later, the hotel was changed to Hotel Le Royal Monceau, Paris from 12 June, 2015 to 18 june, 2015 for Rs. 9,10,364 In r/o Advisor to the Administrator UT, Chandigarh and Rs. 4,43,498 in r/o Secretary Personnel-cum-Secretary Urban Planning and Home Secretary- cum-Secretary Tourism,” the audit report said. This change cost over Rs 6.7 lakh. On the reason behind the change, Mr Agarwal told The Indian Express in 2022, “I don’t remember exactly… the then Advisor wanted a location closer to the Arc De Triomphe… It is quite possible that we booked a hotel, and it was changed due to locational issues.”

RTI records show that Vijay Dev was initially sanctioned over Rs 6.5 lakh, Anurag Agarwal Rs 5.6 lakh and Vikram Dev Dutt Rs 5.7 lakh for the trip, totalling to nearly 18 lakh. The expenditure, however, crossed Rs 25 lakh — about 40 per cent more than the amount initially sanctioned.

About a month after the trip, the Union Territory administration under Vikram Dev Dutt cleared the increased spending for Vijay Dev. And Mr Dev cleared the extra expenses for Vikram Dev Dutt and Anurag Agarwal, helping each other like they did before.

The Aftermath

Two officers have since been transferred and one has retired. Vijay Kumar Dev, now retired, is the Election Commissioner of Delhi. Vikram Dev Dutt is Director General of civil aviation regulator DGCA and Anurag Agarwal is Haryana’s Chief Electoral Officer.

Last year, following allegations that several officers of Chandigarh were travelling to Delhi by business class and staying at five-star hotels, administrator Banwari Lal Purohit took a tough decision.

“After a careful consideration of present circumstances, from henceforth, it is directed that no air travel is allowed to Delhi. All the officials travelling to Delhi would travel by Shatabdi and Vande Bharat trains. Further, officials will stay at UT Guest House, Punjab Bhawan or Haryana Bhawan but not in any star hotels,” he said in a letter to the administration.

The letter noted, “As responsible officers, it is our moral duty that public money shouldn’t be squandered and wasteful expenditure shouldn’t be accepted at any cost.”

The IAS officers in question did not respond to NDTV’s calls. A senior officer of Chandigarh Administration said, “We have received the audit observations. We will examine it and take appropriate action.”

A devastating accident in Haryana’s Mahendragarh involving a school bus that killed six students returning home from school today raised questions about the safety of the buses and a debate over who should be held responsible. Parents and locals are also asking why the school remained open on Eid, a public holiday.

Six children died and over 20 were injured when the school bus rammed a tree and overturned this morning. The driver was reportedly drunk, the police said.

The bus, whose fitness certificate had expired in 2018, belonged to GL Public School. A state road transport official has been suspended for failing to control vehicles running without proper valid documents.

State Education Minister Seema Trikha said an inquiry is being conducted to find out why the school was functioning on a holiday. She reiterated that the school should have been shut today and that a show-cause notice has been served.

“The school should not have been open today. A show-cause notice has been issued and apart from that, we have taken self-affidavits from the private schools. The schools will have to provide an affidavit of the transport vehicles stating that they function according to the transport rules,” she said.

Asked who bears the responsibility for such a tragedy, the minister said the schools and the bus owners will be held accountable along with the driver.

“If (school bus) drivers are found to be drunk, schools will be held responsible. In such cases, FIRs will be filed against the driver, the school’s principal, and the bus owner.”

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh fired an emotional barb at the Congress, revealing he had been barred from attending his mother’s funeral while in prison during the Emergency.

”I was not given parole to attend my mother’s last rites during the Emergency and now they (Congress) call us dictators,” he told news agency ANI in an exclusive interview. 

Last year Mr Singh said he had been jailed for 18 months after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency. “I was sent to jail at 23 during Emergency,” he had said.

The Emergency imposed by the then Congress government has often been used by the party’s critics, primarily the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, to launch political attacks.

EP-158 with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh airs today at 5 PM IST

”I was not given parole to attend my mother’s last rites during the Emergency, and now they (Congress) call us dictators,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reveals the untold story of the 1975 Emergency

“If… pic.twitter.com/ORSOey6Fav

— ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2024

In June last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the 48th anniversary of that period, said the 21 months were an “unforgettable period” that was “totally opposite” to the Constitution.

“I pay homage to all those courageous people who resisted the Emergency…  ‘dark days of emergency’ remain an unforgettable period in our history, totally opposite to the values our Constitution celebrates,” the PM – who has been accused by the opposition of imposing an “undeclared emergency”, said.

READ | “Unforgettable Period…”: PM Modi On Emergency Anniversary

The year before that Mr Modi – then on a visit to Germany – addressed Indian diaspora and called the Emergency a “black spot on the vibrant history of India’s democracy”.

Ahead of this Lok Sabha election too the Prime Minister referred to the “dark days of Emergency”, attacking the Congress for not having any faith in democracy any more.

At an election rally in Uttarakhand, Mr Modi said, “Prince of the royal Congress family (referring to Rahul Gandhi) said if the country elects Modi for a third time, it will go up in flames. Those who ruled the country for 60 years… are now talking about setting it on fire…”

Rajnath Singh’s Warning For Pakistan

Mr Singh also repeated an offer of assistance to Pakistan – to combat terrorist activities on its soil. “If Pakistan feels incapable, India is ready to cooperate to stop terrorism,” he said, and also warned Pakistan that if its aim is to destabilise India by using terrorism, it would have to suffer the consequences.

READ | “If Pakistan Feels Incapable…”: Rajnath Singh’s Offer In War On Terror

The firm remark came a week after he warned Pakistan India will pursue any terrorist who tries to escape by crossing the border. “If they run to Pakistan, we will enter Pakistan to kill them,” he had said.

That remark was in the context of a report by British daily The Guardian, which accused Delhi of conducting targeted killings of terrorists in Pakistan. 

The government has dismissed the claim as “false and malicious anti-India propaganda”. 

READ | “False, Malicious”: Centre Blasts Report On Targeted Pak Assassinations

In its rebuttal, the External Affairs Ministry quoted its boss, S Jaishankar, who recently asserted that targeted killings on foreign soil is “not the Government of India’s policy”.

The ministry’s denial was mentioned in The Guardian’s report, which claims the Indian government “has implemented a policy of targeting those it considers hostile to India”.

The Guardian claimed up to 20 such killings were carried out since the attack on Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in February 2019, in which 40 men were killed.

Meanwhile, Mr Singh’s offer echoed those made in 2018 and 2019.

On that occasion the Defence Minister also warned Islamabad that a “situation will be created (if it did not act on its own) that terror bases will be wiped out from Pakistan and no power will be able to stop this”.

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