The two-member inquiry commission set up to investigate the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon riots on Friday wrote to the Maharashtra government, recommending it winds up the commission owing to paucity of funds.
The letter, which HT has a copy of, stated that the superintendent of the commission used to be humiliated by the staff of the Maharashtra home department whenever he came to enquire about pending bills.
Friday’s development comes amid the Centre versus state government tussle over the transfer of the Elgar Parishad probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
It is alleged that the conclave was backed by Maoists and the speeches made there triggered caste-based violence near the Bhima-Koregaon war memorial the next day on January 1, 2018, leaving one dead.
On February 9, 2018, the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had ordered the setting up of the commission, which is headed by retired chief justice of Calcutta high court, Jay Narayan Patel, and has Sumit Mullick, former chief secretary and the present chief information officer of Maharashtra, as the other member.
Friday’s letter, which was written by the secretary of the commission to the chief secretary and other senior officials, detailed the poor financial condition of the commission. “Circumstances indicate that the government is not serious about the commission. The commission is unable to function for want of money even for day-to-day expenses. The staff may not be able to continue due to want of salary,” read the letter.
Sanjay Kumar, additional chief secretary, home, said he has not received the letter yet. “I will be able to respond to the letter only after going through it,” Kumar said.
The letter further revealed that the officials of the commission have not received salaries from November 2019. Salaries and honorarium of all, including the chairman, are due from December 2019. “Peons are required to borrow money for their survival. Most staff members are hired on a contract basis. They would starve for want of salary,” the letter claimed.
According to the letter, when the superintendent of the commission had recently been to the home department to ask about pending bills, the undersecretary concerned asked him to wind up the commission. The letter stated that the superintendent has been humiliated on a number of occasions by the staff of the home department.
The letter claimed that after exhausting the initial budget of about Rs52 lakh, the government either delayed in sanctioning a supplementary budget or sanctioned an amount much less than was required.
According to the letter, when the state government extended the term of the commission in November 2019, the commission had placed a supplementary demand of Rs65 lakh on November 8, 2019. The letter said that according to the directives issued by the finance department, the supplementary demand should have been submitted on or before November 16. “But the home department did not submit the demand before that date. The finance department did not take the supplementary demand for approval in the ensuing budget session,” the letter read.
