Slapped with 27 graft cases, convicted in two, Odisha IAS officer Vinod Kumar dismissed

The Odisha government on Wednesday dismissed senior IAS officer Vinod Kumar, a key accused in the rural housing scam who was convicted in two corruption cases and has 27 graft cases against him.

The 1989-batch IAS officer was dismissed after the Centre approved the state government’s proposal to give him compulsory retirement.

Kumar is accused of resorting to unfair means to sanction funds as the managing director of the Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation after Super Cyclone hit the coastal state in 1999. He was accused of illegally sanctioning Rs33.34 crore in the aftermath of the cyclone that had caused heavy financial losses and widespread devastation.

He landed in the vigilance directorate’s net again for allegedly granting loans to builders and contractors without obtaining adequate collateral and proper scrutiny during his tenure at the corporation in 2000-01. The loans were meant for reconstructing houses hit by the 1999 cyclone.

When the corruption charges came to the fore in 2001, Kumar was immediately suspended. He was reinstated later and was serving as the officer on special duty in the higher education department at the time of his dismissal. In 2018, a special vigilance court convicted Kumar in the housing scam and sentenced him to three years in jail for financial irregularities involving Rs1.02 crore.