Centre asks BBMB to recover ₹30 lakh from ex-chairman
AB AGARWAL HAD APPROVED ₹40,000 PER MONTH RENT FOR HIS DELHI FLAT IN CONTRAVENTION OF BBMB RULES
PATIALA: The Union power ministry has directed the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to recover ₹30 lakh from former chairman AB Agarwal that he claimed as lease rent for a flat in Delhi. The BBMB has deducted ₹15 lakh from Agarwal’s contributory pension fund.
The BBMB had allotted him a rent-free house in Chandigarh and a flat in Delhi, but in contravention of rules, Agarwal himself approved ₹40,000 per month rent for another flat in Delhi where his family was living. Before joining the BBMB, Agarwal was serving as an executive director in the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) in Faridabad. He joined the BBMB on March 19, 2010, and the terms and conditions of his appointment were fixed as per the board rules by the Union ministry.
In NHPC, the executive director is allowed to take an accommodation on lease in Delhi or Faridabad in case he is posted at a far-off place so that his family doesn’t have to dislocate. But as the chairman of BBMB, Agarwal managed to pressure board to get him lease rent of ₹40,000 per month for his Delhi flat.
On September 25, 2015, Agarwal relinquished charge after the Union ministry did not grant him extension.
NEW CHAIRMAN TOOK MATTER TO MINISTRY
The new chairman referred the matter to the power ministry, saying that Agarwal does not qualify for lease rent as per BBMB rules.
He said the lease rent agreement should have been approved by some higher authority, but Agarwal cleared it himself. Thus, the agreement is invalid, he added.
In its September 6 order, the Union ministry asked the BBMB to deduct ₹30 lakh from the retiral benefits of Agarwal.
MONEY DEDUCTED FROM PENSION
The BBMB’S finance wing worked out the total amount payable by Agarwal, including the lease rental paid for past period between March 2010 and September 9, 2015, to ₹29,78,368.
Of this, ₹14,05,419 has been recovered from his pension fund account and the balance of ₹15,72,949 is yet recovered, for which the ministry has asked to BBMB to start the process.