MVA ministers made money from officials’ transfers, alleges BJP

Mumbai:bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief Chandrakant Patil on Thursday alleged that the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s ministers received kickbacks for the transfers of officials.

He called for a criminal investigation department (CID) inquiry into the matter. “MVA ministers have opened up a market of sorts for plump postings to favoured officials. There is a huge turnover in these transfers and it also comes at a cost to genuine officials, who may not have political affiliations. This needs to be probed by the CID,’’ said Patil.

He also added that the general administration department (GAD) led by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray lifted the moratorium on transfers laid down by the finance department, headed by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on May 4. The moratorium was laid down due to the Covid-19 situation, to maintain continuity in the implementation of measures to tackle the pandemic. The finance department had in May issued an order stating that no officer should be transferred this year to ensure continuity in the implementation of Covid-19 measures across departments. Patil said GAD in July issued an order, allowing 15% of the transfers of the total posts to be carried out by August 10. He also said the transfers caused hardship to officials amid the pandemic. The state BJP chief, however, did not offer any concrete evidence about the kickbacks nor did he level a charge against any specific minister.

Refuting the allegation, water resources minister Jayant Patil said, “If we set up an inquiry, we will start [the probe] with all transfers carried out by the BJP government in the past five years.’’