Express Exclusive: 3 senior Chandigarh IAS officers who went to Paris switched hotels, made unauthorised expenditure, says audit report

In 2022, The Indian Express highlighted the serious irregularities by the three IAS officers — Vijay Dev, then Chandigarh adviser; Anurag Agarwal, then home secretary; and Vikram Dev Dutt, then secretary (personnel). The information accessed through Right to Information (RTI) Act applications showed how they even switched from their “already booked five-star hotel” to a more plush property to get a better view of Arc De Triomphe and then gave each other approvals to increase their budget, all at the cost of the taxpayer.

The findings of the audit report

An invitation was received from Foundation Le Corbusier’s Paris, France, regarding a meeting on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the architect’s death of Le Corbusier to be held on June 15, 2015, in Villa Savoye, in Poissy. Confirmation was sent to Phillippe Belaval, Le President Du Centre des monument nationaux, Foundation Le Corbusier, Paris. A letter was sent to the Director Services Government of India, Ministry of Home, Delhi, regarding the grant of cadre clearance for three officers of Chandigarh Administration to attend the meeting. The cadre clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding participation of the said officers was received on June 5, 2015, for attending the event in Paris.

However, the audit mentions that “no certificate regarding the visit was obtained from the Ministry of External Affairs in regard to participation”.

The audit report also mentions that these three IAS officers made a seven-day visit for this meeting. Vijay Dev and Vikram Dev Dutt approved each other’s tour programmes, and Vijay Dev approved Anurag Agarwal’s tour programme — all on June 10, 2015, as per the report.

The report submitted to the Chandigarh Administration mentions, “Originally invitation was meant for Chief Architect UT Chandigarh however, the visit was made by Secretary level officers. No certificate regarding the visit was obtained from the Ministry of External Affairs in regard to participation.”

It was stated that “the visit was for 7 days and the matter was neither presented nor approved by the screening committee,” even though norms state that “no foreign travel visit should be exceeding five days without obtaining the approval of the screening committee.” It was also said that the nomination of officers concerned was not obtained from the minister.

As per norms, it was also specified that “the visit abroad of the Secretary is to be recommended in case lower level officer could not be substituted”. However, in this case, all three top IAS officers jetted off to Paris, overstayed and even switched hotels.

The revised amount of Rs 9.10 lakh meant Rs 1.51 lakh per night for six nights for the then adviser, and Rs 4.43 lakh meant Rs 73,916 per night for six nights. The revised hotel accommodation shot up to Rs 17,97,360, and the unauthorised expenditure reached Rs 6,72,284.

The exchequer paid for these hotel tariffs in addition to the business class tickets from Delhi to Paris and back (costing Rs 1.77 lakh each) and a daily allowance. Initially, the booking was done on June 8, 2015, and the revised bill was dated July 13, 2015.

The audit report mentions that the visit of the officers to attend the meeting was not sponsored by the inviting foundation and UT Administration Chandigarh incurred all the expenses.

Chief architect’s expenditures approved

As per RTI details, Chief Architect Kapil Setia spent eight days in Paris from June 12 to 19 for this meeting, and his perks of Rs 4,49,476, a travel allowance of Rs 1,01,219, and a daily allowance of Rs 22,682 were approved as expenditures.

The Indian Express conveyed its queries on the audit report to The Chandigarh Administration on April 3. After a week’s wait, the administration confirmed that it had received the audit’s objections and observations.

A senior officer of the Chandigarh Administration confirmed, “We have received the audit observations on the Paris trip. We will be getting back on this.”

All three IAS officers were sent a query by The Indian Express and informed about the audit report observations on their visit. However, no reply was received.